Delta Effect
by Zero612
Summary: Delta is the name of our newest entrant, as he finds himself in the Mass Effect universe, with knowledge of everything beforehand as he joins Shepard to fight the collectors.  Delta is change, and he plans to implement a lot of it.
1. A Universal Change

**Me: So… I'm branching out to ME now. I've been told to get the first game but I have yet to do so, so I'm just going to stick to ME2. We are going to stay here, from beginning to end, and likely finish just as soon as ME3 comes out, permitting our sequel. I'm going to try and keep this from being a Mary Sue, so lets fuck with the canon a bit shall we?**

**Delta: how are we doing this again?**

**Me: No idea, just go with the flow cuz the plotline will stray.**

**Delta: great…**

**Me: without further ado I present, Delta Effect.**

First Changes

Ugghhh, I hate walking home from school. I hate the carnival that changed the bus routes, I hate the wind blowing dust in my eyes every two seconds, I hate the steep walk up my hill and I hate the wind making us lose power so I couldn't wash my clothes. Now im walking at an almost 75 degree angle up my hill with jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt! Almost there, just another quarter mile until I reach my beloved, cool house. Outer lights are on, that means the powers back, I can play my games! I sprint up the stairs ignoring the heat built in my legs. I unlock the front door, get inside and set up on the big screen in the living room. Home alone again, yes! I play Skyrim and Reach for 4 hours waiting on my family to get back. The trek home was a fail but canceled class? Such an epic win, and in college too!

Wait, game time, no school thoughts just game.

So I turn back towards my xbox, taking out Halo Reach and plopping in ME2. Just made an Infiltrator Shepard, female, black and ready to sneak up and kick ass. I can't wait, I've almost got all loyalty missions dealt with, just got Tali and Legions. I'll be cutting it close but everyone'll be loyal by the time the Collectors attack the Normandy. Then I pop in, kill collectors, blow the base and destroy that baby-

DDDDMMMmmmmmmm…

Please tell me that was not the sound of EVERY electronic shutting down. Let me check. Ok setting up mental checklist. TV: dead. Xbox: muerto. Microwave, electric stove: out. Computer: ah, dead. Hmm don't feel any electricity, no hum of machinery, no high pitched keening of EM waves. Huh…FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

Ok I'm cool, I'm cool just gotta calm down, iphone works, I can read more fanfics and wait for the power to come back o-

Did my xbox just spark?

…Oh wow, yes, yes it did. And they're blue. And multiplying. And going from sparks to arcs of electricity. Odd, I didn't know the red ring of death would do this. Oh wait it's not red its still green, but the green light is circling rather quickly. Kinda hypnotic too, since its going faster and faster, and faster… and faster. I step towards the xbox as the electricity dies down and stand before turning slightly. As I do so, the electricity shoots out and hits me, paralyzing me with pain. I fall to the ground, eyes shut tight against the pain, my vision tinging black slowly. As fade to black I see a tinge of, blue, around the edges and feel slightly energized. I then faint as I get a strange feeling of being in motion very suddenly, and very quickly.

"Hey, hey, get up"

_hmm, what's that noise?_

"Hey, come on, get up!"

_wait, no oh god no…_

"HEY, LISTEN TO ME, HEY, GET UP!"

_WTF is Navi doing in my house? _I opened my eyes to glare at the source of the annoying noise. What I was rewarded with was a rather all around petite teenage girl, probably 16 in a futuristic looking blue dress. I glared at her in an annoyed fashion before registering my surroundings. I quickly looked away and gaped at all that I saw. We were currently on a small ledge on a hillside overlooking a little suburbia of sorts. I could tell the houses and buildings were made of pre-fab materials, since they all seemed almost exactly the same. As I looked further I noticed several more odd things, robots for one. Full size, humanoid, robots, no suits, no cyborgs, just full on robotics. And they moved so naturally too! As I stared at this the girl fluttered to my side to try and gain my attention once again.

"Hey" _ignore her, pay attention to the suburb, town, village?_

"Hey" this time she shoves my shoulder. Oh girl you are so asking for it

"HEY!" I'm kicked in the ribs the third time around. _They will never find your body._

"What?" I seethingly respond.

"What are you doing here?" she asks.

"That depends. Umm, Where IS here?" I replied.

"Are you retarded?" _I will burn it, it will be destroyed beyond recognition._

My glare is the only response she gets. Then I notice I'm lying down on a rather cold floor, with snow falling around the overhang we are under. Huh, guess I should be glad I wore such warm clothes, even if I was sweating balls deep back home, it seems to even out now that I'm here. Speaking of which-

"Seriously though, where am I?" apparently Navi hears the note of seriousness in my tone so she frowns but still responds.

"You're just outside the edge of the Terminus system colony Freedoms Progress. I saw some kind of blue light up here so I came to check it out. You don't have anything with you though, so how'd you make it?"

Blue light? There was some blueish light at home too when I passed out. And it showed here and now I'm at Freedoms Progress. That shouldn't be possible, because I live in 21st century Los Angeles, and Freedoms Progress is a human colony in the Terminus systems, I-don't-know how many lightyears OUTSIDE Earth's solar system in my. Mass. Effect. Game…

"What year is it?" I ask, shock slowly overcoming me.

"2185" Navi responds, slightly irritated, and no doubt exasperated.

…"Merda"…

Navi just looks at me weird while I hang my head down struggling to grasp the implications and realizations. I've always been the most flexible of my brothers, the one least likely to be bothered by a missed event, or a sudden drastic change in plans. I'm good with that acclimatizing shit. I'm resourceful, adaptive, I learn my situation and if I don't like it, I tough it out as best I can, which is usually pretty well. It helps that I can always find something fun or pleasantly distracting in the process. So true to my usual countenance I stand up straight, assume a contemplative appearance and gaze out sagely towards the colony. In my mind however, I am freaking the fuck out. I'm stuck in a video game. A VIDEO GAME! I wrote a self insert for Bioshock, but I never played it. Made my own Overlord named Cryro and made Delta Squad in the Haloverse. I don't know what to do here. Almost every game I played there was a single plotline, where the choices of the player didn't matter. Mass effect was my first and ONLY game where my choices actually affected the plot both in large ways and infinetisimal ways. I watched playthroughs of both games and read which choices in ME1 cause which outcomes in ME2. I know the butterfly effect and I've seen it happen in my own game. Besides this is real life, not canon, twists and turns not even considered in game are bound to happen, Who's to say if a squad member goes down the enemy wont just push to reach that member and finish em off for good instead of just leaving em unconscious for Shepard to magically heal them from a mile away with medigel. Or maybe the chest high wall wont be there to signal an upcoming firefight, or what if I can't do anything to help Shepard and I- Why is there a giant turd in the sky?

…Oh wait, that's right.

"Merda, NAVI RUN!"

"Wha-wait- wha- Don't call me Navi" She splutters as I grab her arm and pull her up the small trail aside the ledge. I see a large wall and some confused colonists milling about. I keep my eyes peeled for a certain person, or alien rather. Even so I look back at her and ask "Then what do I call you?"

"You call me Naviana, just like everyone else."

…If this was a self-insert, I'd slap the shit out of the writer.

"Fuck it, I'm sticking with Navi" At that moment I finally spy the one I've been searching for, letting Navi's protests die before reaching my ears. I pull her closer by a little bit then spot the part of the colony's landscape I was expecting. I jump off the hill path with Navi, landing on a house's roof, then jumping down the pile of scrap beside it. Thank goodness for home trash compressors eh? Navi follows since I'm still latching onto her arm and we are closer to the Quarian than anyone else. I look back and already see the swarm of seeker's coming down to rain stings of stasis inducing terror on everyone. I run faster more dragging Navi than leading her as the crowd behind us continue to lag behind even with the adrenaline no doubt coursing through their veins. We follow the quarian to the security bunker and look back as the other colonists lag too far and are stung. I see a small swarm making a beeline towards Navi and I, so I throw her into the door behind Veetor, before diving through myself. Veetor doesn't even notice us as he goes straight to the computers and uses them to shut the door and lock it. Then he brings up the security cameras and records the Collectors taking all the colonists away.

Goddamn it. That was worse than Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. Rob Zombies house of 1000 corpses ain't got shit on these bug bastards. Especially when I see Harbinger take over one. Does he always do that little 'prepare them for ascension' ritual? I wonder… Why am I not breathing heavy? I look over at Navi as she is struggling to breathe, while crying at the screens showing everyone she's known getting taken away by giant cockroaches. I kneel beside her and rub her back soothingly, most of me is focused on friendly comfort while a small part is delighting in the hopefully true assumption that Crew practice and rowing has put me in rather decent shape. Maybe I wont be a drawback to Shepard after all? Eventually Navi stops crying and I forget to stop Veetor from withdrawing into his own mind and trauma before it's too late. Now we're just waiting, and waiting, and waiting. It's been about an hour and a half after the collectors have left and Veetors starting his chant about no more monsters finding him. Suddenly colony scanners pick something up a small shuttle. One of the corner camera screens show a team of suited up humanoids wielding assault rifles. It's the quarian strike team! So that means…Yes, there's Tali, in her new purple suit and veil. Let's give a hand for Mass Effects possibly most popular side character. I like Tali, its rather hard not to, she's very kind and likeable for everything not concerning Cerberus and the Geth, plus the nervous babbling is just so cute. So with Tali here Shepard can't be too far behind. So let's go and meet up with, wait doesn't Veetor…

…Activate the mech defenses. Great now there are mechs between us, Tali and where I think Shepard lands. Great job Veetor, now Prazza's gonna be pissed about the mechs attacking. They seem to have camped out in the one house already, a small distance from the giant gate we are behind. Hmm, well everything seems pretty canon so far, maybe it won't divulge from the plot. I hope I can get on the ship, I'd like to meet Anderson and Jacob since they were both the only black people you ever constantly see. I saw a black man squad of freelancers on Omega during Garrus' mission, but sadly I had to kill them. Rest in peace my negro brethren. I wonder if I can avoid that, after all I do basically have precognition. Maybe I can change a lot of things for the better. Yeah, yeah maybe I can, I just have to be mindful of the butterfly effect. I like that, changing things behind the scenes. Let's get on the stage crew first then. I look around the security bunker noticing some light armor, which looks like the ODST armor from Halo, with a choice of visor, or visorless. I think I'll go with visor, so no stray bullets hit my eyes when my shields go down. It's also in my favorite color combo, crimson and onyx. The helmet is black with a red stripe along the top and the sides around the mouth the shoulder pieces are entirely ODST, with black guards and a crimson center, and red stripes going down my arms. The chest piece is flattened out, covering my chest and stomach, but still lightweight with red stripes going down the sides of my torso and along my spine. My legs are unusual, with armor going all the way down covering my legs and thighs in black armor, the kneecaps are set apart quite noticeably, with a Kevlar weave between each joint and armor opening, and an extra tight weave covering my groin area, where the armor is thinner. Finally there is a crimson stripe snaking down the outsides of my legs and a red shading around my shin area and metal boots, with a pair of black metal with shaded red painted over my gauntlets, a Kevlar weave for protection and grip around each finger with the back of each finger carrying a small armor piece. Wow, protection, mobility and built in brass knuckles. I even noticed two Omni-tool chips in the locker, along with some thermal clips and a predator pistol. There is an omni tool port on each arm, so I guess this armor is perfect for passing on so it can be used by left handed and right handed alike. Once the chips are installed I notice an interesting difference. My right arm chip contains Infiltrator data. So there's the Hacking interface, the Overload charge and launcher and data on how to integrate a tactical cloak to my armor. The left arm chip contains the soldier info, with disruptor, incendiary, and cryo round codes, and there's an automatic system in the omni-tool to trigger the Adrenaline surge. Oh so that's why soldiers have adrenaline surges, they're given omni tool to regulate their adrenalin. So they behave the same without it as one would with adrenaline, and then the short surge augments their skills even further.

That's cool. You know what else is cool? Finding an assault rifle in another locker, with a katana shotgun. And Shepard's touched down and blowing up mechs. Looks like I got too wrapped up in my own revelations and intrigue for that one. Well let's see here. There's Jacob my (hopefully) future homie, there's the ice queen, I mean Miranda. I wonder if I can kill her father, he sounds like a complete douche and it would definitely get me brownie points with Miri. And finally at the front there's Shepard looking all badass in her N7 armor. So we got a femshep here, cool. I wonder what race she is, it'll be interesting to find out. Anyway they're making good time so I should probably find out how to quickly reload these weapons.

"What are you doing?"

"Gearing up for a fight." Well Navi seems to have recovered pretty well. I look at her eyes and she seems so scared and confused, like my little brother that time we were at school when a firefight broke out right next to the playground. We finally regrouped in the gym and he was so scared…No, no bad or sad memories allowed. Ignore the eyes and familial likeness. You WILL get back no matter what. "Just in case one comes to us."

"You look more like you're going to it." Navi responded.

"Perhaps" Wow, I think I sounded more badass then I evewr thought I was possible of being.

"You sound like an idiot." I should have known it was gonna die almost immediately.

I just roll my eyes and look at the screen as Veetor continues his chant I look at my infiltrator arm and notice a tuning app. I activate it and fiddle around, quickly learning before I get it right and suddenly I hear my comm. Bark to life.

"-_Shepard you have to hurry Prazza's squad is getting heavy resistance."_ Ah Tali, you sound so- wait Prazza, heavy resitance, THE YMIR! Merda, that means they're right outside, so Shepard will be here in a few minutes. And Veetor is still in his little chant, I think only Shepard can pull him out of it. Oh well. I turn towards the door and notice it's set to unlock from the inside rather easily, so I open it. Navi gasps as I step outside and close the door behind me. I see the damaged YMIR and the one attacking Prazza's team. I also see Shepard run in with Jacob and Miranda, taking cover behind the fragile crates. YMIR vs. fragile crates= rape for the crates and whoever's taking cover behind it. More importantly though I notice the quarians running back from theYMIR. I move to shoot it but then remember that one female marine falls and is stomped on by the mech sure enough, I catch sight of her and the one the YMIR shoots a rocket at before stomping on the female. I holster my rifle and pull out my pistol while running for the YMIR. The female turns towards the YMIR running sideways while shooting. The mech turns towards her and the quarian guy behind her I charge an overload while running towards them both. The woman is focused on the Mech, even after she trips on her own feet. At this point I'm a few feet behind it's leg and my overload is primed. The mech raises its rocket arm and aims at the guy quarian as a rocket is loaded and armed while lifting a foot towards the quarian on the ground. So without further ado, I launch my overload, and it pauses as it receives a warning about the shields shorting out significantly in its VI head. I capitalize on this bending down and grabbing the quarian woman across the chest and under the armpit in a lifeguard grab as I drag her away quick as I can, taking care to aim my pistol shots at the protruding rocket head. Thankfully, before it moves again one of my shots hit it and blew the arm apart, destroying the shields and most of its armor. The quarian gets up and lets me pull her along as we seek cover in a house while Shepard steps in to finish off the YMIR.

The guns in the future don't have much recoil, especially with the mass accelerator rounds causing little kickback, but still, I would have been a horrible shot if I was not used to the surprising amount of recoil water from a bad stroke could cause when rowing. Either way, I made it so much easier for Shepard and the gang, as well as probably show enough competence to be admitted to the Normandy. Maybe I should still gush a little about how I admire her actions with Saren and show anger about the council blowing off the Reaper threat, I think that'll be a good boost to my chances. First off though, lets search the extranet quickly to see what choices she did make.

**Me: and we'll stop here. Like it, love it, hate it? Did it make you laugh, sigh, cry, or facepalm whatever the type or magnitude of your response please review and leave a message after the page loads. **

**Because if you like the idea, I can always change the delivery, **

**but I wont know what you like, hate or would like to see **

**unless you use a review, to contact me.**


	2. A Name Change

**Me: I'm banging these both out, Cuz I think I've made my chapter too long. So If I got any fans in the short 5 minutes it took to upload and approve the second chapter, you're in luck. Anyway last chapter we left off right before Shepard gets to Veetor and talks to him, Tali and our newest friends. Let's see how that turns out shall we?**

Delta Effect: 1st Changes and 1st Impressions

Well now that was an interesting extranet search. It was nice though, Shepard is a slight paragade but it seems that she's only renegade to pricks and assholes, so it's all good in the hood. She saved the Council, so she's likely to be reinstated as a Spectre and My novice infiltrator skills have allowed me to see that it was Ashley she rescued. Perhaps she didn't romance Kaidan, but I can't complain, no one really likes Kaidan more than Ashley, even with the migraines getting him pity points, albeit a miniscule amount. Anyway it seems Shep is walking over to Veetor and Navi, so I better move my black ass on over there too. I move to step outside, casting a glance at Tali as she takes care of the other Quarians, when the one woman I rescued grabs my shoulder. I turn back towards her as she says

"Hey, My name is Nala Kureina vas Qurait. I just wanted to thank you, you saved my life back there with that stupid stunt."

I chuckle "Yeah, well, I wouldn't have just let someone die if I can help it. My names ***** ******** but my friends call me Delta."

"Delta? Hmm, that's odd."

"Yeah, it is unless you know the specifics of a few things." At this point I see Tali head over to Veetor's little bunker, "I have to go Nala, goodbye."

"Ok, and thanks again." Nala says as she waves once before turning to her squadmates.

I walk over to the security bunker and get there just as Tali does. Before I can say anything She opens the door and we hear Miranda say

"- We can send him to a Cerberus facility, they might be able to get more information from him there."

"Great idea, lets send the alien to a facility of belligerent xenophobes." I say as we step in.

"He's right Veetor doesn't need to be interrogated, he needs help, help that he can get on the Migrant Fleet." Tali puts in her two cents, prompting Shepard to make her choice which I'm pretty sure is-

"Tali's right, Veetor needs help. He's all yours, get him some help soon." Yep, totally called it in my mind.

"Thanks Shepard, I'm glad you're the one still giving the orders." Tali says this with a telltale note of relief in her voice. Veetor moves to Tali's side and then stands outside as Tali halfway turns around, both stopping as a certain someone yells out-

"HEY!" please don't tell me she's trying to get my attention. I turn away slightly and chuckle at Shepard who seems temporarily surprised by the outburst.

"HEY, what the hell were you doing back there, you could have gotten yourself killed!" This was accompanied by two quick stomps and a push on my shoulder. Hn, she closed the distance pretty fast considering she was by the console Veetor was using.

I look at Navi then bring my left hand up to my helmet to tap the polarization button, showing my face through the now-clear visor. I fold my arms before replying, "I was helping them what did it look like? You saw the mech it almost stomped on one of those marines and that rocket was probably intended for another."

"Do you think I'm stupid? I saw you, you just got that armor and those guns barely an hour ago, and I know you've never used them before."

"Well, apparently I'm a good learner, so any more objections?" I say this as I smirk and take off my helmet. It's a comfy fit too, I mean, my face and head is kinda egg shaped with a wide top and my hair is cut low and I have some chin hairs but nothing gets caught and iit cradles my head rather well this ODST helmet. Hah, her frown is so funny how it's all tiny and looks like a-OW

I'm interrupted by a smallish fist coming down on top of my head as the girl leans up to reach that high, and I am surprised at how strong she is despite her frame cuz that hurt more than it probably should. Then again due to a childhood accident the plates that made up my skull never fully fused together in one part so its rather sensitive. Maybe she hit me there. Anyway I step back and scowl at Navi as she pouts out of anger and, something else, I don't know what but its in her eyes while her body says 'I'm mad at you'. Whatever, maybe I'll figure it out later, right now it's time to find a way to broker passage on the Normandy with Shepard.

"So Shepard," she looks toward me with a questioning glance, "any idea how to get us off here, because the collectors took everyone except us two and we can't do much."

"Really?" she asks, sarcastically.

Nullify sarcasm with realism. "Yeah, I can shoot stuff well, but Navi here-" and cue her trademark-"HEY!"-there it is, "is only good at nagging me, apparently."

"Well we might be able to take you somewhere before we head back, but first things first, introductions. Soo…"

"Right well my name is ***** ******** but I prefer to be called Delta."

"Delta?" Confused surprised and skeptical. That is a funny amalgamation of emotions coming from Shepard.

"Yes, it was a nickname my friends made for me and I rather like it."

"Don't like your real name?"

"It's gotten to the point where my family and elders use my real name, whereas my friends mainly use 'Delta'. I've had no problem with it, so I don't see why I should change it." Miranda and Jacob both have slightly offput looks on their faces. Hmm, wonder what this'll be like later, if I end up joining the Normandy crew.

"Ok then Delta. And what's your name?" Shepard asks, turning to Navi.

"My name is Naviana Hyelean. I was visiting this colony to see my aunt and uncle. My mom and dad are on a different colony, _Safe Solitude_. It's inside Alliance space so hopefully it will be safer there."

"Well you're a brave girl if you are able to get out of this unscathed."

"I'm not very brave."

I lean closer to Shepard and lower my voice, "She's largely been in denial about this whole thing. Your arrival and my attacking the mech are probably her two main distractions so she doesn't confront this whole situation entirely."

Shepard nods in agreement, "Come on, we have a shuttle to send you both home back at the station."

Oh Shepard I think I'm too far away from home to get back by any shuttle Cerberus has.

Now how do I tell her that? Butterfly effect Delts, Butterfly effect. Always keep in mind the Butterfly effect.

So an hour later we have entered the shuttle and are now approaching the Cerberus station that houses the Normandy. Wow, space stations scattered across the terminus systems, all with some form of stealth systems so the Alliance doesn't find them. The Illusive Man must have more money than fucking Bill Gates. Ah well, we're docking now so I should wait for Shepard to finish her debrief with TIM. Naviana has gone straight to a bench and is now staring out into space. Jacob is by a reinforced window-pane and Miranda is at a computer typing something. What the hell does she type anyway? Reports I bet. Maybe she checks in on Oriana, looks at her records, latest health exam, latest test scores, researches classmate backgrounds. Yeah, let's not bother her before that mission, then I deal with Bitch Miranda as little as possible. If I want to get on the Normandy though I will have to talk to her at least once. I can't just sneak on there, EDI will likely notice me with the ship sensors as soon as I step on. Speaking of sneaking, I better get that tactical cloak set up on my armor. I'm glad that I research the possibilities of the different tech in the sci-fi stuff I like, then I actually have an understanding to work off of, and with this future tech I have a few ideas that can come into play here. Alright, tactical cloak made and installed, spare unit created and finally a third unit for experimentation. This'll be fun. I pocket the cloaker units before turning and walking over to Jacob. He'll be the only other black person on the ship, so there will be some instinctual comfort, especially if I make friends with him early on. Wasn't hard in my game either, before I even had to put in the second disk I had him and my Shep greeting each other like homies. Anyways I step up to Jacob and he takes notice as he turns towards me, still leaning against the window. We make eye contact and I quickly tilt my head upwards before returning it to its regular position as I stop and fold my arms while leaning on my left leg. I smirk inside as I see Jacob return the gesture, a small smile appearing at the corner of his lip.

"What's up?" I ask.

"Nothin much aside from the mission we're on. Collectors are taking out human colonies. Freedom's Progress wasn't the first, but it's the one where we found the data to prove our culprit."

"No shit. They cleaned house real well from what I saw on the exit walk. I'm glad you finally caught a break with Veetor."

"(amused snort) Yeah, no kidding."

"…by the way, uh Miranda wasn't really going to send him to a regular Cerberus station was she?"

"Miranda… just might've honestly. We don't see eye to eye on everything but the lady's known for the best results with the most efficient methods. I honestly would've done what the Commander did and take the omni-tool with the intel. Omni tools are replaceable, not time or sanity."

"Hehe, we'd probably get along pretty well if we hung out more." I assume a contemplative look. Jacob chuckles at my comment before noticing my look. He arches his eyebrow slightly, and I take this as my cue that he's expecting a question.

"So your mission involves stopping the Collectors right?"

"Yeah, that our mission." Jacob answers this almost hesitantly pushing himself off the window and keeping his arms folded as he balances his weight on both legs so he's standing tall. Huh, he's a good 3 inches taller than me so he's probably around 6' 2".

"Can I help?" I ask.

"I don't think so. True what you did against that mech was rather smart, but it was as stupid as it was brave. How old are you anyway? 18? 19? You should be with-"

"I can't. I'm not from Freedoms Progress, but my family is… not in this world."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Naw, it's cool man, I've had enough time to come to terms with it. My mom always did say I was especially adaptive. Besides, my brain is wired to focus on the good, not the bad. I don't think of them as dead, I think of them and pull out as many good memories as I can." Yeah, and if I really can't get back to them I hope my wires in my head don't get crossed.

"I know how you feel man, my dad disappeared a long time ago. I've buried everything but a body," replies Jacob.

I try to give the feel of a comfortable, contemplative silence. Wow, that's part of his loyalty mission speech. Maybe my dead family thing was rather useful in gaining good ground in our friendship. How old is Jacob anyway? 28? That's about ten years older than me. I always was good at making friends with older people, something having to do with a mature sense of humor and surprising amount of intelligence and wit. I look over at the door that goes to the quantum communication thing and see Shepard and Joker walk out of it together, chatting and laughing together as they walk down a hallway to the hangar bay opposite the Kodiak's.

"Willing to help me get on board for this mission?" I ask Jacob. He looks back at me and I can see the gears in his head turn as he considers this.

"No, we cannot have him join us, we don't know anything about him, besides, he's just some kid who survived the attack. He has no military experience and is likely undisciplined. On top of that, you saw what he did against that mech, that was as likely to get him killed as it was to work."

"But it did work, and I made your job easier in destroying it while saving two lives on top of that." I rebut.

"It was a huge risk you took, and if you did that so willingly you likely have many more high risk ideas you will be willing to implement."

"Miranda he changed the situation for the better for everyone. That Quarian woman was going to get stomped to death and that rocket the mech prepped was pointing at another quarian standing further off in the open. He saved them both and heavily damaged the mech in one fell swoop. He was also aiming carefully, not just shooting at the missile and hoping for a lucky shot while still moving the quarian. He is definitely smart enough to make and even pull off these plans, even if they do have such a heavy risk.

But the _priiizzzeeeee._

Miranda and Jacob both turn to me as I make a snorting sound but I school my face into a hopeful determined look and turn slightly towards Shepard for the final verdict. I couldn't help it the thought appeared just as soon as Jacob finished. Shepard seems to be thinking, scrunching her brows slightly as she considers the idea. Shepard's taken off her armor so now I can see her clearly and I'm kind of surprised. She's the female Shepard I made, oval shaped face with her hair kept in a neat bun and a glossy well conditioned natural black. Her face is velvety smooth, and her eyes are a nice mahogany color with light brown eye shadow and lipstick a shade darker than her skin, a soft milk chocolate. She seems rather au natural, with little daily maintenance necessary, what with only wearing lipstick and eyeshadow, and while her eyes are hard, they are equally soft, displaying a firm method with a kind disposition. Altogether, Shepard is rather attractive. Until I see the cybernetic scars, then I feel like punching Wilson for not letting Cerberus fully insulate her face, cuz those are creepy.

"I think we'll give him a chance. But if he does anything really stupid, no matter how ballsy, we're dropping him off."

"Once chance is all I need Commander." I reply smiling at her. She smiles back. It's not as big but hey, I'll take what I can get. Besides, I plan on becoming friends with everybody! I already can't wait for the epicness that will be Legion. It'll be really cool seeing him in real life. After this, the meeting is adjourned with us walking onto the Normandy. Shepard goes to the cockpit to talk with Joker, Miranda frowns/pouts slightly as she enters the elevator to head to her office on the crew deck, and I follow Jacob as he heads to the armory. Once we enter he goes straight to his console to start cataloguing the weapons. I walk over to the weapons locker and look at those available. I'm a mix of Soldier and Infiltrator so I think I'll leave the heavy weapons to Shepard and just take a shotgun, sniper, assault rifle and submachine gun, along with my pistol. So lets see, Mantis sniper, Avenger for assault, Katana shotgun, Predator pistol and finally the shuriken machine pistol. So the SMG and pistol can both go on the thigh plates, while the shotgun will be lodged in the small of my back, with the sniper and avenger folded and on my shoulder blades. I walk over to the elevator and get there just as Shepard does, and she heads to her cabin. So I decide to walk over to Joker and see how he's doin.

"Hey Joker, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine but who are you?"

Wow, he sounds just like Seth Green. Ah I miss Chris and robot Chicken already.

"I'm Delta, an apparently unexpected addition to the Normandy crew."

"Delta? Who gave you that name?"

"It's a nickname my friends made for me a while ago because of, well, various reasons really. Anyway, I'm not going to get into a nickname discussion I just came introduce myself and see what you're doing. Speaking of which, you're the only pilot right?"

"Yeah"

"It doesn't seem like you do much up here"

"Yeah this is 98% of my job. I just watch little blue buttons flash. Sometimes I press one." Joker says this sarcastically as he turns his chair around.

Hah, he does have some of the dialogue from the game. I look behind and see the commander walking towards us and apparently she's changed into the captain's suit. I nod to her and bid goodbye to Joker as I walk towards the elevator the commander raises an eyebrow at me since im still in my armor and carrying my new guns, so I just reply "Cargo Hold, Practice." She nods and turns to talk to Joker. As I get close to the elevator I see that Shepard plotted a course for Omega, so I'm assuming that we're gonna pick up Garrus and Mordin first. This ought to be fun, I wager I'll get a good hour, hour and a half of practice before we dock. I am now in the elevator heading for the cargo hold. Waitaminnit, isn't the elevator supposed to be slow as-

…

goddamnit.

**Me: Yes, so Delta is now on the Normandy, heading for Omega with Shepard. I think this is going to soon become my longest story yet, and longest lasting as well since it basically took me two chapters for one mission. On a final note, review with praise, comments and most importantly criticism. Be constructive though, if all you do is try to flame me, I will rise like a phoenix and unleash my fire of retribution upon you. I use your criticisms as a foundation to build my good skills and demolish my bad habits. A good reader enjoys good work but the better reader helps the writer. Please, be the better reader. And I also want feedback on that prize joke, I thought it was funny but it's really the masses that decide.**

**Arrivederci**


	3. Change in Plans

**Me: So, I'm back with another chapter. In this one we make it to Omega and start recruiting people. I'm gonna do my best with depicting the others and their personalities so, wish me luck and give advice at the end. I can only get better if I know what ails me.**

Delta Effect: A Change in plans

"Well thanks for the help, I thought you might be too busy just to help me practice my gun skills"

"I don't like that you're coming along but I will not allow you to drag us down."

Well, Miranda I tried being polite but now you're just being a bitch. Besides, how the hell am I dragging you down when all you use for practically the first half of the game is two pistols and some weak biotics. You don't even have armor or anything, I bet if everyone wasn't gunning for Shepard you would've been dropped like a ton of bricks.

"I understand you don't like the idea of a sudden unknown variable in your equation, but that does not warrant the attitude." This is not going to help but seriously, you'd think that with her being around twice my age she'd be the mature one. My poker face remains intact but her glare is starting to scare and irritate me at the same time. We stand like this Miranda glaring at me from sidelong glances and me focusing on that wonderfully dull discoloration in the elevator door. Finally we arrive on the CIC and step off heading towards the airlock. Jacob is there already, so I guess Shepard's not going to limit herself to three man teams. Good, because it would be highly impractical since regular squads are teams of five or more, and Shepard is anything but regular, or ordinary. After all the Collectors successfully killed her after Saren, Benezia, Asari commandos, the Geth heretics and Sovereign too, and now she's back, black and pissed the fuck off. It'll only show when we get to the base and she's ready to plant the bomb and fight the baby Reaper but yeah, she's still pissed about dying.

So we go through the airlock, see Jaruut and Faroth, Aria's expecting us, blah blah blah, walk along the hallway watch Zaeed beat a batarian, blah, blah-

Wait, what?

Oh, Zaeed, Zaeed Massani, the DLC Character, Mr. badass mercenary second to Shepard and in the online world, Mass Effect's Most Interesting Man in the galaxy. So if the DLC is here then is all the DLC stuff here or just some. If so, which ones, hopefully Kasumi, the Hammerhead and Lair of the Shadow broker is available. Those are my favorites by far especially with Lair of the Shadow Broker including all those funny videos of different people.

"Cerberus tell you about our agreement?"

Oops. Blanked out for too long. I mean, I know what's basically going to happen or be discussed but still, what if someone catches me blanking out and then I behave as if I heard everything, even if technically I did, but then that would raise suspicion and I need to have no suspicions placed on my person. I should probably work up friendships with everybody before I tell anyone my origins, if I ever do.

"Alright, we'll see if we can get to it." Aw shit I did it again.

The batarian prisoner runs and Zaeed calmly shoots him in the leg, causing him to fall forward.

"I better take this in before it starts to stink. I'll see you on the ship" with this Zaeed walks away at Shepard's nod and Shepard leads us out the door. We walk forward a few steps towards Afterlife, then I hear someone say 'Psst'. I can think of only one person who does that here and if I'm correct then he'll also say-"Psst, Jacob, Miranda, over here"- that. I turn to the sound and see him. Ish, the salarian info broker who sold Jacob information on where he needs to go but never warned him of the ambushes and enemies he'd face that Ish knew before hand was there. I turn my head and watch Jacob march right up to Ish with Shepard soon following and Miranda strutting beside her. I dash over as well cuz I can feel a moment coming on. I get there with Miranda and Shepard and see Jacob getting in Ish's face. Ish is seemingly calm but his voice shakes a bit, and his buddy has backed off slightly. Hmm, Jacob is a lot angrier in real life, plus he's about to get swallowed in a…moment… to avoid this, I grab his shoulder and pull him away a bit.

"Jacob, calm down, calm down, look away, and calm down." He looks angrier than me that time one dude hit my mom's car. I had just cleaned it too and then some jackass drives down the street and shears off part of the freaking door, tearing the paint and shit all along the right side. I was about to chase that dude down and pull his ass out and beat him, I was so mad. And I could have done it too, the car wasn't even going fast, I could've ran and caught up to it in a few seconds.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, stopping Jacob from doing something stupid. He seems to have calmed down now but we should probably head over to Afterlife and wait for Shepard to get the drop sites from Ish. Well we turned towards Afterlife and Shepard appears beside us glances at Jacob as I take my hand off his shoulder and Miranda is behind us while we walk towards Afterlife. Heh, if it wasn't 3 out of 13 Miranda might be more apprehensive about us three black folk. Well, two, what with her and Jacob's past relationship, that really only leaves me, the unkown, and the commander whom she would rather have control chips implanted in. I swear that woman's philosophy is fucked up if she thinks it's best to have implants controlling a person. So we enter Afterlife, Jacob and Miranda move to flank Shepard and I'm on her far left side. As we walk, I tilt my head to the left a bit when I catch sight of a group of three batarians. The leader is sitting in a chair while his two lackeys are flanking him on both sides. The leader stands up and steps toward me his eyes setting into a glare.

Wait, isn't this-?

"You wanna say something human?" the batarian asks this as he draws his pistol and points it towards my legs, while his buddies pull out their guns too. Damn obscure batarian customs, I can't remember if it's tilting the head right or left that is offensive. Aw well whatever, the whole race is basically pricks to humans anyways. I pull out my predator in my left hand and my Shuriken machine pistol in my right. I figure I might as well try to intimidate him since being black automatically carries rather unsavory and often violent connotations. As I draw my guns I see Jacob step to my side with his shotgun out and leaning against his shoulder. The batarians are slightly surprised and the intimidation factor has risen a good amount, what with my dual wielding, Jacobs shotgun, then Shepard apparently noticed us because she then steps up to the batarian leader with her pistol drawn and pointing up.

"Do you really wanna mess with us?" The dude is about to start shaking in his boots.

"F-Fine, I'll let you go. This time." He pockets his pistol and walks away, with probably only his batarian pride and local rep keeping him from hauling ass. Shepard walks back over to the door where she left Miranda, me and Jacob following and fistbumping along the way. I ignore the techno music as well as I can while we walk over to Aria's VIP room, glancing at the bar and wondering if I can get a drink. I sneak over to ask as Shepard, Jacob and Miranda go up to Aria to ask about Mordin and Garrus. At the bar I look around quicky before grabbing the salarian bartender's attention.

"How old do you have to be to drink?"

"Do you have money?"

Thankfully, I was given a chit with 5,000 credits on it from Miranda. Someone might think I'd be exaggerating if I said she was treating me like an irresponsible child, but I don't think it's that far of a stretch when she didn't give me the chit until after I knew what any rapid transit terminal would look like, or how to read docking signs. So anyway…

"Yes I do."

"Then no one will care kid."

"On Omega yeah, but I'm in a group and we'll be traveling all over the galaxy."

"The average drinking age is 17, now are you going to order something or not."

Eh why not, "What's the lightest thing you have?"

THANK YOU GOD! I am so happy in my mind as I walk up the steps for Aria's spot, not even Miranda can wipe off my smile. I reach Aria's VIP room and see Shepard sitting down. I step up next to Jacob still grinning obviously, carrying my source of joy in my right hand, with a follow-up in my armored pocket.

"I always liked Mordin, he was as likely to kill you as he was to help you." I chuckle at Aria's comment. "You can get to the quarantine zone by following the top left path, from there a turians guarding the entrance."

"Thanks for your help Aria" says Shepard as she gets up from her seat. She walks over to us and we follow her as she heads down the stairs to the left of Aria's room towards a small room with a batarian in blue suns armor standing guard. Huh, this is the freelancer sign-in, so I guess we're doing Garrus first. Oh joy, a loyal friend for Shepard. He is being besieged by the merc groups, so its best if we help him before he's overwhelmed. Or unless that gunship drops by early. Wait, that's right, this is real life, so that gunship could go early, or we might not make it in time. The game pauses everyone's schedule at points so Shepard always comes in the nick of time. Merda, I need to find a way to stop that gunship, or maybe watch Garrus so he's not besieged by it. Think, Think!

"Wrong room honey, stripper quarters are that way" All thoughts cease at this comment. I step forward and come beside Shepard but she raises her arm to stop me. With a small smirk she steps forward to grab the batarians attention before pulling out her assault rifle.

"Do I look like a stripper?"

"Nope I guess not. Here to sign up for Archangel?"

"Yeah we're looking for him."

"Alright then. You need to provide your own weapons and armor, it seems you've already handled that. You pay an entrance fee and you get reimbursed with additional payment upon mission completion. If you die neither your friends or family can pick up your paycheck and you're only working as a freelancer, so no this does not make you part of the Eclipse, Blood Pack, or the Blue Suns. You got all that."

"Here," Shepard hands him a credit chit, probably with all the credits for our admittance, "Now where do we go?"

"Head outside to the transit center. We have a driver there to take you to our base."

At this we turn and go out the door when a dude pushes past us and asks "Is this where freelancers sign up?"

Shepard immediately turns around and asks "Aren't you a little young to be freelancing alone?"

The guy turns around and walks up to us. "I'm old enough besides, you got that kid with you so don't say anything to me." At this he points at me and everyone looks at me. Miranda is watching and probably plotting to use this to get me ousted from the crew. Gotta think fast, I know!

"So, I have guns and armor, what about you?" I say, in a slightly taunting manner.

"I just got this recently, been waitin to use it." Great, he took the bait and is now waving his gun around. I lift my hand but Shepard shoots hers out, yanking it from his grasp. She hands it to me with a look, and yes Shepard, I know what to do. So I grab the gun from her and swing it with all my might at the corner wall beside me, bashing it against the metal and no doubt destroying the reload chamber and firing mechanisms in the depths of the small weapon.

"Hey I just spent all my money on that!" he says as he steps forward. Shepard stops him by grabbing his collar and pulling him to her face.

"Trust me, you'll thank me for it." With this she pushes him back slightly and we follow her out as the guy stares at us confusedly. Soon we are at the base after I mentally skipped past the ride and conversation with the driver. Now we're here, Shepard's being told to see Sergeant Cathka and we are walking again. I wonder…

"Hey Shepard, can we see if there's anything useful in the shops after this mission?

"I suppose so, it would be good to have some specialized armor parts for different missions."

"Awesome," I like my ODST looking armor, but I would appreciate having the Stimulator conduits in my leg pieces, or the Off-hand ammo pack arm piece. Now what do we get here with Garrus' recruitment mission? I remember there is probably some heavy weapons ammo around here somewhere but then again don't we, ah yes I remember now, we get the vindicator battle rifle. I liked that rifle, precise and effective three round bursts. The only one better is the Mattock. Boy did that make the Shadow broker battle easy as pie. I only like vanilla oreo cake so I'm not as picky with pie, just as long as its not sweet potato or pecan pie I'm usually good. If it's pumpkin pie though, stay the hell away. Especially if its pumpkin pie from Urth café because oh my GOD theirs is beyond awesome, and even more awesome with whipped cream too. I wonder if sex is as good as that pie cuz then I would understand why so many people enjoy fucking like rabbits. I'm like Shepard with that pie cuz if I have it and you take some, then whatever does not kill me better run damn fast. I wonder if Roscoe's is still open on earth. That'd be great for a celebration, goin to 'Scoes. But then again Garrus and Tali are dextro amino so they wouldn't be able to-

"DELTA!"

"I DIDN'T DO IT!" oh, wait, maybe I did. I look around and notice that I'm in the Eclipse meeting room, right by Jaron or whatever his name is, the Salarian leader. Jaroth! That's his name, Jaroth! I look over at the door and see Shepard there, frowning at me, and Jacob raising his eyebrow while Miranda just looks plain exasperated. Get used to it Miri, this is how I am. I shrink myself in supposed embarrassment before activating my tactical cloak. I go out the door, tapping Shepard and Jacob on their shoulders as I pass. My cloak fizzles out and I stand off to the side.

"Come on." Shepard grits out as she walks into the mech room. She messes with the friend or foe identifiers on the YMIR mech as I open the cases containing resources and hack datapads for extra credits. Shepard gets more than I do when she does the same and even gets some research data for upgrades. Yay. After this we leave and head to Cathka and his gunship. As soon as I see it I internally panic, I still don't have a plan on how to deal with it when Tarik decides to fly it.

"Cathka?" Shepard asks a group of- hey, it's the black freelancers. Apparently a few are latino as well actually. They split apart with the darker, gruffer one jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. We step forward to the batarian fixing the gunship as he steps back and regards us.

"You the group Salkie mentioned?" Ah so that was the name of the guy outside the car thing. He moves over to his desk and lays down that charge-fuser fork thing. Ooh renegade temptation. I start inching around towards the fork thing as Shepard steps up to him, waving away the smoke from his cigarette. Seriously, it's the 22nd century and people still smoke those cancer sticks? Well he'll be smoking himself in a bit anyway, why not let him have his cigarette, ehehehe. I wonder, can I snag the gunship? That'd be crazy and everything but seriously though, if I had the Gunship, then the main threat to Garrus' facial integrity is eradicated. Unless I fuck up epically, but I doubt that'd happen. I'll ask Shepard after we deal with Cathka.

"That's the signal, bravo squad, go, go, go!" He says this excitedly but the freelancers all walk out as if they're 5 years old headed to middle school. Sad…

"Well I better get back to work, Tarik wants this thing at 100 percent."

I step up to Shepard with the fork thing in my hand, and a pleading expression on my face. Shepard considers it for a second but nods in agreement. I grin and step up behind Cathka, smirking devilishly. He turns to look at me with a questioning glance, half hidden by his visor.

"You work too hard" I say as I lodge the fork charger in the back of his armor. He convulses and jerks around as the electricity courses through his body. I leave him to die in his spasms and Shepard turns her back as well. Jacob looks at me and asks "Do you think Tarik will mind if the gunships only at 80%?"

"No, no I don't, especially if he doesn't use it. Shepard, what if I stayed back a bit, out of sight. Then I could take out the gunship and help you guys out if you get into trouble."

"What makes you think I'll let you do that?"

"Shepard, I plan on staying undetected until the gunship is about to be used. Then I kill Tarik and whoever else comes to use the gunship, take it for myself, blow up a few mercs along the way and maybe provide flying evac for you guys, if it gets that bad. Best-case scenario, I take the gunship blow up all opposition and fly us out safe and sound. Worst-case scenario, I have to blow the gunship before it's used."

"…and you know how to pilot a gunship?"

"I've driven enough vehicles to know the universal basics and telltales. If not, I've learned the extranet is very effective for accurate research."

"I feel like I'm going to regret this, but go ahead. Stay out of sight of the mercs and Archangel too, if you don't come with us he might tag you as an enemy."

"Ok, maybe if you tell him the guy in black and red striped armor is a friend that might help my chances."

Shepard shakes her head as she turns to walk away across the bridge. Miranda follows, not even looking back and perhaps hoping I get caught and killed, we really haven't been on the best of terms lately. Maybe the universe will give me a freebie and I have to save her life. Nah, lets just fistbump Jacob goodbye and get to hiding shall we? Ok, the group is off across the bridge, gunning down the mercs Archangel misses. Heh, Garrus, missing a sniper shot, like that'll happen. Anyway, I find a nice scrap pile close by the entrance to the hangar bay for the Gunship so I hide behind it, making a little gap in the pile to see through. I wait a while, watching mercs fall on the bridge getting pushed and pulled by either Jacob or Miranda, flying off the bridge or smashing into poles, aside from the usual bullet piercing bodies killing methods. I watch this for a while before hearing my radio crackle to life.

"_Shepard, good job with the shutters, but I need you to hurry back up here, blood pack just came in from the back."_

Huh, so they've already killed Jaroth? I guess now it's Garms turn to try. Funny the salarian was stupid for trying to get across the bridge that was being held better than the Spartans at Thermopylae, and it's the Krogan who is smart by circumnavigating to the back of the warehouse. Stupid salarian, smart krogan, go figure. I continue thinking, eventually reaching the genophage conflict and start considering how to handle things on Tuchanka for Mordin. Also the geth and the Quarians. Peace is possible but apparently for the quarians the biggest hurdle is themselves. I'm glad I have time to think on this, since we ahvent even gotten close to recruiting Tali and Legion. When is Tarik gonna get here dammit, I want to hijack that gunship already- there he is.

Tarik comes into the room making a beeline for the gunship as he shouts orders for his blue suns to carry out while he hurries to his gunship to join the fight. I activate my tactical cloak quickly as he steps into the gunship, with me not too far behind. I slide in just before the door closes. Tarik gives his orders through the radio to expect the gunship and he pulls it up using a holo wheel. Wow this is rather easy actually. Oh well, time to eliminate my backseat driver. I pull my gun out and Tarik turns in surprise as he hears it unfolds and freezes when I jam it between his four eyes. Hah, his eyes look funny in a four way cross, hehe, now cool one liner, cool one liner.

"…(frown) Fuck it" I pull the trigger sending a bullet through his head. Okay, as soon as this is over, I am going to make a plan for every possible beneficial change I can, and think of one liners for as many situations and people I can think of, so I don't have to steal Shepard's, or be caught in this situation again. Speaking of which, I better grab hold of the wheel. I shove Tarik's lifeless corpse out of the seat and grab the controls of the gunship, turning it away from the warehouse and towards the merc base.

"_Did you get the gunship Delta?"_ Ah Shepard.

"_Ma'am yes ma'am I have eliminated Tarik and acquired the gunship. Shall I just start shooting or will you paint targets?_"

"_Nope just shoot any that come out, then we'll evac_"

"_Excellent_" I reply. I check the guns and rockets, looking at my stock and then looking at the base some mercs are gathered for a no doubt last ditch attempt to take out Garrus. I smirk as I release a few rockets. They tear through the garrisons and I open fire with the guns, killing a few mercs immediately and cutting through the others quickly. I lower the ship as they flee, slightly disappointed at the small fight. I guess with Tarik dead they figure we're too tough. I open the gunship door as Shepard steps inside with Jacob and Miranda. Shepard walks up to me holding out a new gun, the Vindicator.

I grab it saying, "Thanks" before turning back and flying us out of the area. We contact Aria and she tells us to dock in a hangar bay close by our own, so we do that and leave the gunship with quite a bit of credits rolling into my account for bringing it in. Well, that was nice, we got Garrus, he's not in a critical state of health, no cybernetics needed, and I got some money. Now its time to get back to the ship.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: ...<strong>

**Delta: you looking at he mental rant too?**

**Me: Yeah there's not enough connectives, makes it a confusing random, not comical.**

**Delta: Sorry, the connectives in my mind pass pretty quietly until a tangible thought makes itself heard.**

**Me: i know rite? Anyway, sorry about this chapter, i didn't realize my computer made two files under the same name with one incomplete. 'Til next time.**


	4. Change of Pace

**Me: I'm back, black and ready to write!**

**Delta: Bout time, you've blazed pretty far past where we are in the game, I thought you'd forget.**

**Me: Bitch please, I've played it enough to memorize every important part. Plus I've enjoyed having the Genesis DLC Comic, makes the galaxy more malleable to my choices.**

**Delta: Whatever, ets start and I better get some better armor, the ODST-lookalike security armor from Freedoms Progress is crap compared to the Collectors.**

**Me: Yeah, yeah…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or Halo, I just own Delta, the plot and a few negligible OC's. This is technically not a crossover but I will reference Halo and AC. Just a heads up.**

**Also, forgot to point this out but Shepard is a Paragon and Soldier.**

A Change of Pace

So we got Garrus and he is uninjured. I still don't know whether or not I should reveal my semi-long term precognition to Shepard. I'll think about it later, right now I'll just see what sort of things I can change without disrupting reality or basically screwing shit up in this galaxy. Mordin's recruitment mission won't have anybody important to save or help, aside from Daniel some other humans and a batarian, so I'm not gonna change anything. I look to my left seeing Garrus walk out of the briefing room and head towards me, standing in the armory. He stops in front of me suddenly, with a curious look on his face as his mandibles flare slightly in a, grin, I think.

"So you're Delta. Odd name, but I hear I have you to thank for not letting Tarik use his gunship on us. You have interesting ideas, but it seems you have the skill to make them work," he says.

"Hehe, thanks, Miranda has the same view basically but she's, well, a lot more skeptical and way more reluctant to trust me with much." I reply.

"Well I'll see you later then. Shepard says we're going to get a Mordin Solus after I finish organizing my post. Hope it's not too hard to get to him."

"If it's a mission for Shepard, things tend to get hectic don't they?"

"Yeah, besides, Solus is in Blue Suns territory. They wont be happy to see me."

"Yeah, we'd better get this over with. I should get prepped."

"Last question, what do you do here anyway? You don't seem to have any special skills."

"Not as far as the ship is concerned, no, not I am working as Jacob's assistant here in the armory."

"Well I better head to the gunnery bay and set up, Shepard wants to get Solus and finish with Omega as quickly as possible."

"I'll come with, I feel thirsty so I'll stop by Gardner for a drink." I followed Garrus to the elevator and we both rode down to the crew deck. Once there we parted ways as Garrus went to the right side to say hi to Chakwas and head to the gunnery bay. I went to Gardner and got a rather large cup of water. After I drank the cup and returned it to Gardner I went to the crew tables to fiddle with my omni-tools. After a few minutes Garrus left the gunnery bay and came over to me so I stood up and we went to the Elevator. As we waited Miranda came beside us and stood stiffly betraying the negative feelings she had for me, even if her face remained neutral. After a few minutes of waiting we boarded the elevator together and waited five more minutes to reach the CIC. We hurried over to the airlock and saw Shepard standing there with Jacob, all armored up and ready to go. I went over to the locker and quickly donned my armor. I wonder if I can get some personalized armor components. I'll check Omega's shops, maybe that turd Harrot has something I'd like, or maybe I can buy something from that batarian shop. I don't mind the ODST shoulder plates, but I'd prefer to change the body, leg and head armor though. Maybe get the visor from Harrot, then a capacitor chestplate from the batarian. That sounds good, meanwhile lets go get Mordin shall we? As soon as the decontamination process is done we all leave the ship, and head towards the quarantine zone.

"Sorry maam but no one is allowed inside the quarantine zone."

"But looters will take everything from my apartment, besides, I'm human and the plague doesn't affect humans."

"I already told you, I'm not allowing anyone inside." The Turian guard looks pretty mad.

"So no one can go in or out until the plague subsides?" asks Shepard.

"Finally, someone who can hear. Yes, this district is cut off until the plague runs its course."

"That's unfortunate because I'm looking for a Salarian named Mordin Solus."

"Oh yeah, that guy. He started a free clinic in here a few months back. Blue Suns didn't like it though, so no doubt they've tried to muscle him around a few times, if he hasn't given up by now. Good luck to him, I say."

"What's your purpose being here?"

"I'm stuck here keeping people in or out until the blue suns and vorcha have finished fighting and the plague is done, then I go in and clean up the mess."

"Seems to me you're going to be stuck here for weeks. You need this problem solved now. That's what I do, solve problems."

The Turian guard considers this for a few seconds. "Yeah, sure, go on in."

"You're letting them in but not me? You son of a bitch."

"You don't have a grenade launcher lady."

"Or a team of armed soldiers," I add. Jacob chuckles but the woman turns her glare on me. I depolarize my helmet around my mouth to show my smile and shrug. She leaves after seeing this, and I suspect she flipped us the bird.

"A deadly plague that affects Turians but not humans? Why can't we go anywhere nice?" What about Virmire?

"If you don't want to come you don't have to."

"I can deal with a little illness if you need me Shepard." With that Shepard nods and guides us through the door into the quarantine zone. We walk down the stairs and find no resistance.

"Maybe we wont have to fight much with the Blue Suns and Vorcha fighting each other," I say.

"If anything we'll have to fight quite a bit, the vorcha are scavengers, a second class species to the entire galactic community. This is more about reputation and pride to the Blue Suns than just some territory and money," states Garrus.

"I agree, a second class species stealing long owned territory from them would be rather discrediting to the Blue Suns." Miranda decided to throw in her two cents as well.

"Great, a lot of battle. I call dibs on first strike."

"Nope, that automatically belongs to me."

"(mumble) …goddamnit Shepard."

"I heard that." She replies, some mirth in her voice. We finally reach the bottom of the stairs and see two Blue Suns mercs standing at the far side of a hall. I take out my Vindicator and aim, as Shepard draws her Mantis rifle. She aims and takes out one of the mercs with a clean headshot, as I fire my Vindicator at the second one, a few bursts taking out the shields and then a well-placed headshot finishes him. I look to my left to see Jacob standing with his pistol drawn, having been the one to get a headshot. Miranda and Garrus stand behind us with their weapons lowered, waiting for Shepards next move. Shepard goes over to the mercs bodies and takes a thermal clip for her sniper, I do the same for my rifle after replacing its half spent clip. Shepard then quickly hacks a bank terminal by the wall and we all get a nice surprise. Apparently Shepard's not the only one who gets credits after hacking a bank terminal, granted I got about 500 less but, now I can afford a few things. If I have to decide between the chestplate and the visor though, I think I'll get the chestplate. Better shields after all. Anyway, we turn towards the corridor leading into the district and see a batarian just barely sitting up. Shepard walks over to him as his four glassy eyes gaze at us unfocused, before recognizing the person, or rather species of the woman in front of him.

"Typical. My life is nearly over because of this plague and you humans don't have the decency to let me die before you steal my possessions."

"Hey, are you okay? Is there something I can do for you?" Shepard says this as she reaches down towards the batarian. In response he ever so politely pulls out a rather large looking pistol and points it at her face.

"Stay back human! Your feigned pity is the final insult! I hope (cough) I hope you (hacking cough)…damn…damn you-"

"Here, this wont cure you but it might make you feel better." Yeah Shepard, slap some alcohol on that bitch. Er, medigel. Anyway the batarian puts his gun away and looks at Shepard in a new light.

"You have helped me human. Perhaps I was wrong" Sounds like an iffy perhaps batarian.

"Do you think you can make it to Mordin at the clinic? Maybe he can help you more."

"I thought I would try earlier but it seemed too dangerous. The Blue Suns don't like him and he even has military mechs stationed at his clinic."

"I'll try to get help for you when I get there."

"Thank you human, my time is almost up, but at least you have given me a light in the darkness." The Batarian sits back down and we continue down the hallway. We come across a large mezzanine looking area with a second floor on the right. There's a blockade at the other end, fortified by Blue Suns guards pointing their guns at us. I duck into cover behind some tables as Shepard and Garrus set up their snipers on the second floor. Miranda and Jacob are behind some tables beside me, turned over to serve as better barricades. I pull out my Vindicator and peek over cover for targets. The guys shooting from the blockade are almost impossible to hit for me from my position. That's why I always took the second floor when I played this level, cuz as Shepard me and Garrus would snipe the Blue turds so easily. As Shepard is doing right now. I see some more mercs come out of the hallway behind these guys and start firing at Shepard and Garrus.

"Wait, duh." I say this as Miranda and Jacob look at me while I activate my infiltrator techs cloak. I quickly move to the right side of the mezzanine and take position at the pillar beside the mercs barricade. I switch out my vindicator for the Eviscerator shotgun and wait a few seconds for my targets. They come, the two shotgun wielding Turians are headed for me so I grin and stand in their way. My cloak wears off now but that's fine since my shields are good, and I'm so close to them my shotgun is almost point blank in the lead turians face.

"Hey, how you doin?" I push the barrel closer and pull the trigger, watching as bird-brains head explodes. I immediately turn to the other one slightly surprised at the human but stiff in shock at his buddy's death. I fire on him, taking out his shields and some health before my gun stops. So I pull out my predator pistol with my right hand and shoot him in the head as my shotgun folds up in my left hand. Putting both weapons back I draw my Vindicator and shoot the last merc, hiding behind the barricade. Shepard and the team catch up quickly, and Once Shepard sees my thumbs up she shakes her head with a smirk and heads towards a door to the far right of the area. We follow her as she bypasses the lock and heads down the stairs into an apartment with two humans hiding in there.

"Thank god, we thought you were mercs." This came from a middle aged white man with some wrinkles and a white suit. Beside him stood a woman with a green suit, looking to be the same age range as the man.

"What are you two doing here? This whole area is dangerous!" says Shepard.

"I told him we should go to that salarians clinic, he would help us." This was the woman.

"Please, a free clinic, on Omega? Get real." Bitch please, the woman's right. And they have mechs to help keep you safe too, provided you don't try to kill them yourself.

"Listen, you need to get to the clinic, it's the safest place in this whole neighborhood, and there's no way out of here anyway."

"Well, fine but what do you expect us to do? The Vorcha are fighting the Blue Suns for the territory and we don't even have pistols."

"I'm going straight through the middle so I'll be under a lot of fire from both of those groups and I can't take you with me. But I promise you this, I will do everything I can to make a clear path for you to travel through to the clinic."

"Alright, you go ahead and get started, we'll wait a few minutes after you leave before we head out ourselves. Thanks."

Shepard nods and turns back to head up the stairs and continue through a few hallways. Garrus starts to cough suddenly as Shepard and I turns towards him while Miranda and Jacob watch him discreetly, Miranda albeit more discreetly than Jacob.

"Ooh, that can't be good." I smile at Garrus' joke but look at Shepard as she starts to worry a bit. We all decide to pick up the pace.

We pass several rooms and hack a few PDA's with money,(money money money money. Moooneyyyy) then come across another two-leveled area with a giant pillar structure in the middle and an apartment to the left, in an alcove. Two Blue Suns Mercs are fighting some Vorcha and a couple Krogans, I guess they made the Vorcha their krantt or something. Anyway, the door opens almost directly behind the mercs so Shepard shoots one with her pistol and look at the other one. I lunge to the guy and grab his head, one hand on the back of his head and the other positioned at his chin. I turn the head to the left before quickly jerking it 180 degrees to the right and am rewarded with a loud crack. I crouch behind cover and draw my BR, uh Vindicator, before looking over and shooting towards the Vorcha. I hit a couple explosive canisters as Garrus overloads the third on, bathing the Krogan and their vorcha krantt in flames, killing almost all the bare Vorcha but burning off the armor of the Krogan and, well, armored Vorcha. The rest of the team easily downs the remaining few vorcha as the two krogans charge us. I sidestep one and the team, shoot the other so he stops mid charge. I look at the krogan that rushed past me and as he turns I pump my Eviscerator before shooting him with the whole clip. He goes down after a pistol shot from Miranda to the head.

I turn to Miranda with a slight scowl "You stole my kill." Miranda just looks at me with slight surprise before glaring at me and turning to the commander.

"Shepard, that is the most unprofessional and immature soldier I've ever seen."

"Hehe, I never said anything about being a professional soldier 'Ms. Lawson'" Seems my sarcasm pricked a nerve.

"Wait, you're not a soldier?" asks Garrus.

"Nope, never have been. Always entertained the idea and practiced the techniques, but never fought in the army or killed someone."

"You fight like a trained killer, but you say you've never killed anyone before. Don't you feel any remorse or guilt?"

"I am certainly capable of it. Here however, I find it difficult. I believe every person and creature has a right to live, but that right remains intact so long as they don't try to take someone else right away from them. I would feel remorse if I caused the death of an innocent man but if I shoot a person who tried to kill me, or someone else who is innocent, all I would feel is the recoil." Everyone looks at me strangely, but I can tell they understand to some degree. At least they understand I'm not crazy, or emotionally devoid. With this Shepard nods and turns to the alcove, heading into a room. In the room we find a bank terminal and a case of resources before we turn towards an apartment door. Inside we see a dead Turian and two humans rifling through the apartments storage containers. Ah, the looters.

"What are you doing here?" Shepard questions a little angrily.

"We didn't kill him if that's what you're thinking, the plague did." One of the looters replied.

"We're just helping ourselves to the stuff he doesn't need anymore." Replies the other with a smirk. I want to wipe that smirk off his face right now.

"Shepard can I wipe that smirk off his face?" I ask. Everyone turns to me, to which I shrug in a 'what' fashion. They all turn back to the looters.

"I want you to stop this understand?" demands Shepard.

"Well its either we get this stuff or the Blue Suns do." Says looter 1.

"Not another thing taken or room raided." Shepard commands in her 'do it or die' voice.

"Okay, okay, we'll just stay here then. We won't take anything else, promise." Looter 2 assures her.

Shepard turns and we walk to the clinic, which is now a short distance away. I walk beside Jacob, both of us on Shepard's left with Miranda and Garrus on her right. I wonder what happened when I snapped hat guy's neck. I've never been taught that move, yet I did it pretty well. Now I have this weird nagging feeling in the back of my head. I feel like I'm missing something, but I don't know what, I don't even have a clue. That feeling only comes when I have a mental checklist and I forgot something on that list. Wonder what's giving me this feeling, maybe we forgot a bank terminal or research or something? I gotta find out before this nags me to death and distracts me from the mission and Shepard. Like now, when I have thought all the way to the clinic. We walk inside, ignore the guards warning about causing trouble, pass by the mechs and go to the back room where we hear Mordin give some instructions to his aide. He talks a bit faster in real life, btu I don't care about the medicine names. Shepard walks up to him as he turns towards us.

"Are you Mordin Solus?" she asks. Mordin looks at her and waves his activated omni-tool in front of us.

"Human. Refugee? no no no, armored and have guns. Mercs perhaps, no discernible markings, not Blue Suns or Eclipse. Bounty hunters perhaps, looking for someone, looking for, me.

"Do you ever take a breath Dr. Solus?" Shepard rubs the back of her helmet as she chuckles slightly.

"Oh sorry, I'll. Try. To. Slow. Down. No no no, can't do it. Slows thought processes too much."

"I came here looking for you Dr. Solus, I need you to help with an important mission I'm on."

"Important mission? How important? Who sent you?"

"Ever hear of a group called Cerberus?"

"Crossed paths on occasion. Interesting to see the Illusive man willing to work with aliens."

"You know the Illusive Man?"

"Guess TIM's not as illusive as he'd like, huh?" Mordin turns to me with a little smile as Miranda glares slightly. "If Miranda's face freezes in a glare I take full responsibility." Shepard smiles and shakes her head at this while Garrus looks slightly confused for a second. He shrugs it off as a human saying he doesn't know. Jacob chuckles lightly and turns away as Miranda looks at him.

"Anyway, crossed paths on occasion while worked with STG."

"Well Mordin I need your help on my mission. We're trying to take out the Collectors and stop them from attacking human colonies."

"Can't, too busy here, have to distribute plague cure, although, think interests may be similar. Plague engineered, vorcha incapable of doing so, suspect being used by Collectors."

DDDDDDDDmmmmmm… AH BLUE VORTEX! Oh wait…

"Vorcha have shut down environmental control center. Must get there and turn fans back on before whole district suffocates! Here, the cure for the plague, and bonus in good faith, weapon recovered from Blue Suns merc. Also last thing, assistant, Daniel, left some time ago, hasn't come back." Mordin says quickly in a frantic undertone, which translated from Salarian to human means-something, something, struggle, slow the fuck down!

"We'll keep an eye out for him," Shepard says before turning back and jogging out the clinic. We follow her and stay close as we run up some stairs into a place with cover and Vorcha. Let the fights begin.

We've reached a hallway with two closed doors and one stairway upwards behind a doorway. I open the door on the left to see what's inside. I see two batarians with shotguns and one batarian holding a human male by the collar. This is probably Daniel.

"Please I work with Mordin Solus at the clinic, you've go to believe me, I'm trying to help you!" yep definitely Daniel. Shepard takes out her pistol and takes cover beside me at the doorway.

"We know you're spreading the plague human. We found the phials in your bag with the plague virus."

"Those phials contain the cure for the virus you've got to believe me!"

"Look out." Says one batarian, pointing his shotgun at us. We all have our pistols drawn and pointed at them. The batarian holding Daniel up drops him but points his gun at his face.

"Not one more step human or he dies."

"Listen to me, I know you're scared. Of the vorcha, the plague, but he didn't do anything. Think about it. Why would he go deeper into vorcha territory to spread the plague, they're immune.

"She's right it doesn't make sense." Says one batarian.

"Fine, if we let him go, will you let us go?" say the leader.

"Sure."

"Let him go," they all put their guns away and we lower ours. "Now us?"

"We had a deal." Shepard simply states.

"Human nobility, I didn't know such a thing existed."

"Willful ignorance is so useful sometimes isn't it jackass." I say this. Everyone detects the venom in my voice and the batarians decide not to push it, so they leave quickly.

"You okay Delta?" Shepard turns towards me with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm fine, I just hate it when people judge anothers characters and morals on stereotypes and propaganda. Things don't change do they? Same irrational hatred, just more people to foster it and more outlets to release it." I sigh. "doesn't help any that their species culture promotes and is dependent on slavery." That grinds my gears to no end. If I had a choice the Hegemony would BURN! And I'd take the offer to light the pyre.

"Thank you, I thought they were going to, you know." Daniel says this as he walks over to us, picking up his bag.

"You should get back to the clinic, Mordin needs your help" replies Shepard.

"I will, thanks again!" Daniel says as he walks hurriedly away.

"Lets go put in that cure" Okay Shepard. So without further ado we leave the room, grabbing a few thermal clips, and head towards the control room. We go up a stairwell and through a door, ending up in the control area. It's a large rectangular platform with several support pillars and two square raisings in the middle of the path towards the control console. On both sides there are two more platforms leading to the rooms that control the fans and ramps that lead from the central platform to those ones.

"You no come here. We stop machine, break fans. Whole district choke and die, then Collectors make us strong." Says a Vorcha who ran up to us.

"Why do the Collectors want this?" asks Shepard.

The Vorcha roars in reply saying, "You die now!"

"Weapons free!" yells Shepard, squeezing off a shot into the mouth of the Vorcha we talked to. I smirk and run up to the square raised parts, crouching behind one as I pull out my Carnifex and I look at the reticle through my HUD as I aim for the tank of a flamethrower vorcha moving towards us. I squeeze off a few rounds and watch the tank catch flame and the vorcha flail. He only gets the tank half off before it blows him apart and I turn to see the rocket vorcha aiming at me.

"yipe" I duck down behind cover as the rocket sails towards me and impacts against my cover. I look back over to see Jacob and Miranda take down a couple Vorcha as Shepard and Garrus kill the rocket Vorcha and his spotter buddy. Shepard then heads over to the main console and inserts the cure inside.

"Alright Garrus, you come with me. Miranda, take Jacob and Delta and get the fan on the left. Garrus and I will get the one on the right," Shepard commands.

"Yes Commander," replies Miranda, slightly angry. Yeah, you're going to have to get used to me Miri, if not now then soon. Shepard nods and heads right as Jacob and I follow Miranda left. We get to the ramp and a few vorcha and a Krogan greet us ever so kindly. I shotgun a Vorcha's face as we backpedal from the Krogan and Vorcha guns. I pull out my Vindicator, and shoot the Krogans armor off at a distance while Jacob stays close and shotguns him. The Krogan charges him and Jacobs is sent sprawling back, squeezing off a final blast from his shotgun, which takes off the krogans armor. With this, Miranda lifts the Krogan into the air and starts showering him with fire as I do the same. The Krogan then falls down hard but alive, until after a word from my Eviscerator. I look back from the dead Krogan to Jacob to see him getting pulled up by Miranda. I switch back to my Vindicator and move towards the door to the fan. Miranda and Jacob catch up and Miranda pushes my behind her a bit.

"You don't really expect me to let a child take point do you?" she says haughtily.

"Aww, you really do care."

"I care about not letting some new kid screw up our operations."

"You sassy bitch." At this point the Vorcha interrupt our friendly, in no way derailing, conversation as Miranda unleashes biotic power and lifts all three, including a flamethrower trooper. I smirk and fire at the tank, and within a few seconds the flamethrower is blown, along with his two buddies, into little bits and pieces. "I always loved fireworks."

Miranda groans frustratedly and goes inside the room to turn off the fan. Jacob seems amused but disapproving. Oh, right I'm antagonizing his ex-GF. I guess I should lay off if just for the sake of my homie. We hear the fan activate and head back as we hear a second fan activate. We all nod in relief that the job is done and jog back to Shepard, who leads the way to Mordin's clinic.

"Virus receding, Vorcha retreating, atmosphere stabilizing, well done Shepard, thank you." No prob, Mordin.

"And thanks for me too, I fit wasn't for you those batarians would have killed me." No shit Sherlock, Humans and Batarians don't mix well, even without a killer virus one species is coincidentally immune to.

"Yes, heard you let them go. Would've killed them myself." Daniel you got something on your face it looks like a frown, oh wait.

"How could you say that! You're a doctor you believe in helping people!"

"Yes, many ways to help. Heal the sick, execute dangerous people, either way helps," Mordin raises a hand and places it on Daniel's shoulder, "Think about what I said." Daniel leaves the room and Mordin turns to us.

"Smart kid, bit naïve. Will leave him clinic when gone. Ready to depart Shepard."

"I'm going to look around for a bit," Shepard replies. She goes around, gets credits, resources, research data, couple power cells, the usual stuff. Son we head back to the Normandy and go through the airlock before heading for the briefing room. Miranda and Garrus head down the elevator while I stay on the CIC facing Mordin's lab.

"Hello Delta," I recognize that chipper voice.

"Hi Kelly, how are you?" I respond.

"Oh, uh I didn't think we met already."

"We didn't, but I heard about you from Jacob."

"Ah okay. So I hear you are not a professional fighter." Did Miranda tell her? Probably, a kid appears out of nowhere and fights just as good as an N7 soldier, then claims not to have any prior battle experience. Miranda's always had the worst doubts and opinions about me, and I know she's not racist because she dated Jacob, so it makes sense she'd ask Kelly to talk to me.

"Well Kelly my answer to that depends on who asked you to try and conduct a secret psychiatric review of me." The girl seems rather surprised. I wouldn't have figured it out at all if I didn't know, well, everything beforehand. Hehehehe, precognition has its perks. "My moneys on Miranda, by the way, so what do I win?"

"Well you're right, it was Miranda who asked me to talk to you, but that's all."

"Don't bullshit a bullshitter Kelly, I don't need a psychiatric workup or test or whatever she wanted. If you want to have a friendly chat, I'm all for it, but don't talk to me for the sake of writing a report to judge whether my mind is stable or not." It's fun being a'most fully grown, I'm still as tall or taller than every woman I've met, and I think I still have a few more inches to grow too. "I'll talk to you later Kelly, I have some business with a Salarian scientist to attend to."

I walk away from Kelly and into Mordin's lab. I see him behind his desk typing furiously as Shepard leaves him with a nod of her head. I watch as she walks by me with a small smile, giving a small wave as she passes. I wave back and turn towards the Salarian.

"Delta, how can I help?"

"Just wanted to say hi Mordin. Although I am curious, just what areas of science do you study?

"Many areas, chemistry, biology, physics, are personal specialties but am skilled in all fields."

"Interesting, do you think you could help me with a few things? I want to mess with some of my equipment, try and improve it but I don't think I'll be able to do anything really good without your help."

"Of course, will be willing to help, interested in seeing what you come up with for ideas."

"Thanks Mordin, I'll come to you when I have a good idea." I smile and wave goodbye as I leave Mordin's lab, heading for the armory to grab some shuteye. I went from boring-ass college history to fighting mercs and Vorcha to recover Garrus and recruit Mordin. I think I deserve a nap.

**Me: Halo integration and influence begins next chapter. This mission dragged on longer than I thought it would. Until then, Peace.**


	5. Changing equipment

**Me: Halo integration begins here everyone. I like that people are reading my story but there are still no new reviewers. I swear, if you don't like it then tell me what you don't like, don't just give it up as a 'lost-case writer'. And if it seems Mary-sue, tell me how to minimize the Mary-sueness. Above all just REVIEW! I came online to practice writing and receiving constructive criticism was kinda the point.**

**Delta: Yeah, so tell him he's good if he's good, and that he sucks if he sucks. Don't just read and go away, or else Grunt'll get mad when he ears about everyone ignoring him and his krantt.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass effect, Bioware does. And Halo is created by Bungie and currently owned by Microsoft Studios. Damn you Bill Gates. (loljk don't sue me)**

* * *

><p><span>Delta Effect: Changing Worlds<span>

I close my eyes as I lay down on the cot in the armory while Jacob decides he's going to do his workout before sleeping. Shepard says that we're going to the Citadel, epic, but only after we pick up one more crewmember. She didn't say who but she did say I have a few hours to get some rest. I soon feel the blankness of sleep enveloping my mind so I let it pull me into whatever dreams I might have.

* * *

><p>I'm standing in the middle of a giant plain, enclosed by mountains and with a brown, ominous sky. I look to my left hand, which holds a detonator and click it, watching as a mushroom cloud erupts from the ground. I then look to my right, at a small computer chip, a…a crystal matrix chip. Yeah, these are capable of storing large amounts of data, like having the hard drives of a thousand supercomputers in one little chip. And this one has the schematics for almost every piece of covie tech and weaponry<em>.<em> _Wtf? That sounded like me but-!_

"Perhaps we should leave Delta?" _That's a woman's voice, with a latin accent_. "Radars show Covenant ships advancing, and the cazzeres have phantoms deploying already." An Italian accent, she has a slight Italian accent. She sounded like she said this over the radio, but that's not right, I know it isn't.

"Grazie Verona, where's the nearest transport?" I asked.

"I'm detecting a UNSC vehicle tag a couple kliks southeast. The tag is showing functionality but out here it'd be impossible for it to be undamaged. I'll mark a waypoint for your HUD."

"Alright, lets get out of here. Bring up Colonel Hubbard when you can. I need evac off Reach." I dash off southeast, running as fast as I can in my half-ton armor and heading straight for the waypoint marked on my HUD, vaulting over every rock and piece of debris in my way.

_Covies, UNSC, Reach? This is the weirdest dream I've ever had of Halo. On second thought, this is the **only** dream I've ever had of Halo. It's strangely lucid too, not fuzzy or anything, almost like a vivid memory._

"Delta, the phantoms have caught sight of us!" _Is Verona an AI? I've never heard of a Spartan named Delta, nor an AI named Verona._ "They're prepping an EM flux of massive proportions! They're-"

"They're going to try and exterminate any data on this chip. The data on this chip will help the UNSC bridge some of the tech gap between our forces. They know that and they're going to try and stop it from happening. Emphasis on try."

"They've sent three fully loaded phantoms, a wraith, two ghosts, and have an EM wave generator strong enough to take out a platoon of Pelicans."

"I guess they don't like me. Was it something I said?"

"No, you're just really stubborn when they try to kill you."

"Well that's not necessarily a bad thing."

"I agree."

"Still, best to have some countermeasures. Verona before I put the chip I the hard case on my thigh I need you to take the data and burn it."

"I don't think they're enough space in my chip for that data, that ones almost full as it is.

"Burn the excess into my mind."

"WHAT! I can't do that-"

"Yes you can, my implants will make it possible and I need to make sure at least some data will be safe. Place the miscellaneous and minor priority data packets in my head, you take the higher priority packets."

"I still can't-,"

"Humans use less than 50% of their total brain capacity on a regular basis. There's more than enough space up there to hold the low priority packets."

"I don't know how it'll affect you though." BEEP BEEP BEEP. _What was that_?

"No time Verona, do it. That EM pulse is going to go off at any second." I reach the vehicle we ran to, a standard issue UNSC M12 LRV 'Warthog'. It's like a jeep with only two seats and the back is a small truck-bed with a rotating turret on it. I get in, start up the hog and within seconds am driving away at top speed towards an exit from this valley.

"Alright, I don't know what will happen to you though. Transfer of high priority files complete. Beginning miscellaneous and low priority file transfers now."

* * *

><p>"AAAAGGGGHHHHHH!" I fall out of my cot, clutching my head. Somewhere in the back of my mind I notice Jacob being startled before rushing to my side. I lay on the ground, curled up in fetal position, clenching my teeth together as tightly as possible with my eyes doing the same. I feel hands touch me on my shoulders and back grasping and shaking me, I shrug them off but they come back almost immediately after. I roll away from them and bump into several surfaces, some hard and one soft, probably my pillow cushioning me from one wall. I roll into these surfaces hard but they feel like little embers, nothing compared to the wildfire of pain, sweeping across my head. My eyes are closed and all I feel is pain but I see faint flashes of different things. I see pictures and schematics of gauntlets with energy cells, sleek guns and green G-shaped projectile weaponry, a crystalline oval inserted into a purple V with a pink line at the base, pink needles shooting out of its base. I see everything like a slideshow, fast-forwarded to the point that the Flash would have trouble seeing everything. Finally, after a few minutes of this nearly unbearable pain I black out.<p>

I wake up again, lying in the medical bay and notice that Shepard and Doctor Chakwas are standing in front of me by Chakwas' terminal. I keep my eyes closed as I listen to them apparently discussing my state of being.

"REM was nearly off the charts and subconscious brain activity as well, from what the instruments were able to read," said Chakwas.

"What does this mean, is he going to be okay?" asked Shepard, concern tinging her voice.

"He will be fine, but the readings suggest he has started processing a very large amount of information. It must be an enormous amount considering his mind is still working to process it all. If he doesn't show any recollection or increased information reserves, then possibly the information he received is being store in his subconscious until its ready to be analyzed by his conscious brain."

A door opens. "What does this mean for the boy then?" That's-

"Well, Ms. Lawson, this means he will soon gain hold of a lot of information. I have no idea what information he will receive, nor will I know how to help him since everything is apparently stored deep enough in his subconscious that we have no way of even glimpsing it, at least until he reveals it himself. After processing it properly, of course."

"If his mind is suddenly the site of a large information dump then how did he suddenly receive all this information?" Miranda asks impatiently.

"We have no idea how Miranda, but Mordin's trying to figure it out as well. He's gotten a lot more excitable because of it too," ah there's Shepard's voice. It's oddly comforting.

"Thankfully, his health and vitals are stable, so we will have him with us in the future, and he will be able to help us from there."

If I'm wired up to monitoring systems then they've probably noticed I woke up. Wonder if they'll humor me if I act otherwise. I crack an eye open and look at the three of them. Chakwas is sitting down facing the door, looking at Miranda and the Commander, who is standing besides EDI's little stand with her arms folded across her chest, facing Miranda but her eyes shift to me every now and then. Miranda stands by the door to the medical bay, leaning on her right leg with her right hand on her hip as she watches Shepard and I. I watch the two of them and don't notice Chakwas as she stands up and walks to my side, until I see Shepard and Miranda both raise an eyebrow questioningly before I feel Chakwas flick my forehead, hard. I jolt a bit and raise my hands to my head again, shifting my gaze to Chakwas who has a slight frown but mirthful twinkle in her eye. I look back at Shepard and Miranda, one with a small grin and the other watching with a stoic expression.

"So just how long have you been awake Delta?" asks Chakwas.

"Not long, a minute or so." I reply.

"Are you okay? Any lingering pains?" Shepard asks me.

"No, no more pains. I get the feeling my heads a lot more cluttered though."

"We think you've gotten an information dump basically. Don't know how you did though, any thoughts or ideas?"

"I had a pretty cool dream, but aside from that nothing happened between sleeping and waking up to a mental inferno."

"What kind of dream?" asks Miranda.

"I dreamed of fighting in some cool looking armor. I guess romanticizing battle still."

"Doesn't seem unusual for a teenage boy. A lot of the marines I worked with would talk about having dreams like that," says Shepard. "Well, you already know what we suspect is happening so nothing needs to be explained right?"

"Nope, I understand. Makes sense to me at least."

"Good. Chakwas is he combat ready?"

"Well, commander, as long as he doesn't break a bone in the next hour or so he'll be able to accompany you on your next mission," states Chakwas.

"Mission? Sweet where we going?"

"We're going to a prison ship, Purgatory."

"…" NOT PRISON! MY BUTTHOLE CAN"T TAKE IT! "…right. Why?"

"To get someone named Jack, who is supposedly a super biotic." Great. Jack. The craziest, angriest, most belligerent little tornado of fury, hatred and apathy for all neutral life, with some really strong biotic powers thrown in. I hope her cutscene power is dialed down. Last time I played the game I found out there was an extra YMIR mech guarding her cryo container rather than the 3 you see and hear about her taking out.

"Okay, I doubt this is not going to be a problem but if we're going to a prison ship to pick her up I'm guessing she's not part of the security."

"Nope, she's part of the felons but still an ally the Illusive Man thinks we need."

"Won't this be fun eh?" I smile slightly and shrug my shoulders as I get off my bed. "I'm going to go get ready. Don't want anything bad to happen while I'm there." I wave goodbye to Chakwas, Shepard, and Miranda as I walk out of the room. Miranda follows me to the elevator while Shepard goes to talk to Garrus. I step inside the elevator and hit the CIC button, prepping myself for the ride up. Miranda steps inside a second behind me, and the doors close on us as the elevator heads up at its usual snail's pace. I wonder if-BAM!

"Don't you ever call me a bitch again. We are not friends, I don't like you being involved in the first place and you are doing nothing to show you are a positive addition to this team. From now on you had better at least try to act professional around me and not piss me off or next time I lose my temper I will warp you so much your body will be lopsided."

I groan from my position in a squat, clutching my head. She threw me so hard the earlier pain was coming back partially. I glared at Miranda and she glared back. I hadn't capped her anger levels yet and Jack will get her close to that herself, I don't want to push her over the edge and see if she'll stick to her promise. I groan again and nod as I remove one hand from my head and stand up. Miranda seems satisfied for now and practically pushes me out of the elevator as it stops and opens up on the CIC. I stumble forward a bit, causing Kelly to turn her head as Miranda just crosses her arms and the elevator goes back down to the Crew deck where her office is. I watch the closed doors for a few seconds before turning to Mordin's lab and walking inside. I don't remember everything I saw but a few things stand out. Among them, some special equipment that could be incorporated into a gauntlet that the Covies used, more specifically the elites.

"Delta, good to see you are well. Interesting readings Chakwas forwarded. Seems to be large information transferred and given in a very short amount of time. Possibly main cause of mental pain. Surprising no trauma occurred, seems like very dangerous event. Trust subconscious is storing irrelevant data, still processing?

"Uhhh, yeah I think. I think there's more in my subconscious but meanwhile I got a couple useful things that gave me ideas."

"Excellent, should be interesting. Protheans only species capable of transmitting data into organic minds, interesting to see what was transferred."

Wait,-"The Protheans are the **only** species that can transfer data to a human mind?"

"Not just human, organic mind. But yes, were able to transfer data from computers, visual, audio, statistics, into a human mind essentially. Different cultures and way of thinking likely to cause misinterpretations, incorrect assumptions or undesired reactions to event."

"So, some things such as the true meaning of a word, pronunciation of something or the purpose or intent of a certain action or prothean machine could be 'lost in translation'?"

"Yes, yes, exactly. Lost in translation, good way to put it. Either way, rest of information still locked in subconscious, cannot conduct non-intrusive tests until we get more data. Meanwhile, can still work on current ideas, see if plausible or currently possible."

"Right then, so one idea I want done as soon as possible is a melee weapon. Want to outfit my gauntlets with a detachable but solidly connecting device that can create a blade. Maybe out of plasma that is released and held in shape and place by a magnetic field?"

"Hmm, yes, possible. Superheated plasma likely to cut through many metals and armors, great for use in melee combat, altering a magnetic field to control shape, not difficult, certainly possible, can also make detachable, trade between different gauntlets that might be used. Yes, yes, can do, problem lies with plasma. Canister to contain superheated plasma would be too noticeable, too much of a target. Cannot create compact size generator or temperature maintaining unit. Must also draw schematics, can return after mission in Purgatory, perhaps have one then."

"Schematics wont be a problem Mordin, let me see your terminal for a second." Mordin looks at me in surprise for a split second and steps aside after closing a few windows and bringing one up. I stand in front of his terminal and look at the schematic drawing software for a second before licking my lips and setting to work. A few minutes later I've drawn a small triangular device on the terminal. It has a large oval base as wide as the average human arm, with a triangular blade design at the top of the Oval that points to the hand of the wearer. On top of the base there is a teardrop shaped mechanism, with the base of the teardrop facing the hand. The oval base rises 2 inches from on top of the arm and the teardrop shaped mechanism rises a couple more inches from on top of the oval base. There are two indents on the sides of the teardrop device and another triangular protrusion from the base of the mechanism. I press a button and in slow motion a highlighted field of magnetic energy flows out, taking the form of a sleek, 8-inch long blade, solidified as liquid plasma that is hot enough to melt 5 foot thick metal in less than 3 seconds shoots out of the indents in slow motion to fill the magnetic field and create the actual blade of the weapon.

"Impressive, well made, very thorough. Will need a few materials to produce however, including a plasma energy cell of the size specified. But then again not able create, as none even close to this size exist."

"…" I lean back down and a minute later Mordin is speechless. For a second but hey, it's Mordin, even a quarter second is an achievement.

"Well then, will require platinum, iridium and some palladium. No use of Element Zero though, curious, but will not pry at this time. Can make within the hour. Should get started, come back before depart for mission with Shepard, should be done before then."

"Thanks Mordin." I smiled as he left the computer and began grabbing a few chemicals from a cupboard and opening cabinets to grab chunks of Palladium, Iridium and Platinum. I walk out towards the Armory and see Jacob turn towards me as soon as I enter.

"Delta, how you holding up?" he asks, frowning slightly.

"I'm ok, had better alarm clocks before though. I prefer a temporary annoying noise to searing pain." I say this with a light grin on my face.

"You're definitely better if you're cracking jokes as bad as that." Jacob says as he claps me on the shoulder, smiling slightly.

"What, you don't like my jokes?" I feign offense.

"They're not the best I've heard." He responds.

"Fine then, I'll take my comedic genius where it might actually be appreciated."

"You'll be hard pressed to find such a place on this ship Delta."

"I see I'm not wanted. I'm gonna go check my guns, Taylor, don't talk to me." I strut away in a posh and stupid fashion causing Jacob to chuckle as he turns back to his terminal to work on everyone else's weapons. I take out my Vindicator, Carnifex, Mantis and Eviscerator, setting to work in cleaning them and looking through the schematics I have practically seared into my brain. While I'm pulling errant chips from the ammo block in my shotgun out of the inner mechanisms of the weapon, my mental schematics supply ran out. I probably have more but my subconscious must be still processing them so I'll content myself with other stuff for now. For instance, I pull out my Infiltrator omni-tool and work on some of the firewalls in the armor lockers database, practicing my hacking skills and looking for info. Some of the schematics included specifics on armor that looked suspiciously like the Mjolnir series. I don't know why Halo stuff is in my mind, and even though I'm sure I don't think I want to know why I suddenly have all this info about the workings of Halo. I know I researched the technology mentioned in the franchise before, I even tried to make a gauss cannon for a physics project, but I never got this much information or detail about the tech used. I compared the plasma-fusion power cell in the Mjolnir suit and shield systems to the generator used in the Mass effect shields and suits and apparently Halo has their personal tech beat. It'll cost less in Mass effect to produce it though, in comparison to how much it supposedly cost in Halo, but the Mjolnir mark V was better than the Kestrel, Cerberus assault armor and Firewalker armor effects, combined with the hard shields upgrade from the research terminal.

"Delta, the commander wishes to meet with you in the airlock. We will be docking with the prison ship Purgatory in a few minutes."

"Ah, thank you EDI." I say. I quickly reassemble my shotgun and move out the armory to enter the airlock. Once there I see Shepard standing with Miranda, Garrus, and Zaeed. Everyone has their armor and guns on and they are waiting for the docking procedure to finish. I quickly attach my ODST look-alike colony security armor then reach into my locker to find my guns transported there already. I don't know how they do that but its cool and I wont knock it.

"Docking completed, opening airlo-"

"Wait a sec, Shepard, I'll be right back. I say this as she looks back at me questioningly. Everyone watches me run through the CIC and into Mordin's lab. As soon as I enter I see Mordin a few feet from the entrance. He looks pleasantly surprised and is holding two oval shaped devices in his three-fingered hands.

"Ah, Delta, glad to see you remembered, was about to leave and try to present them before mission. Noticed note in schematics, so created two from your request. Interesting, should work perfectly, attached neural electrodes where specified, so thought should activate. Here, very interesting attachment method, localized gravity generator, active and does not allow shifting from spot, but deactivated and moves as easily as feather."

"Thanks Mordin, I better get back to Shepard, the whole group's waiting on me." I thank Mordin as I attach the devices to my gauntlets, clenching my fists briefly to watch the plasma blades erupt from behind my closed fists. I unclench them and the blades dissipate as the plasma is drawn back into the container unit inside the devices, ready to be shot out and formed into a blade of boiling, liquid death. I turn and run back to the airlock catching the end of a conversation between Shepard and Garrus.

"-I don't trust them, even if they run a prison ship it's still in the Terminus systems and there's no official government sanction for it," said Shepard, with a note of finality. She turns to me as I run up as Garrus shrugs an okay. I don't get the feeling there was a debate, so much as an explanation for the curious.

"Delta, I have reservations about dealing with these Blue Suns mercs so I want you to do recon."

"What exactly do you want me to do commander?" I reply.

"I want you to use your tactical cloak and sneak through the ship to Jack. If we get double-crossed, or a prison break happens then I want you to make sure that Jack is kept safe until we can perform a safe exhfiltration."

"Understood commander, I'll be at my sneakiest." Shepard frowns at me for a second until I get the hint and wipe the playful smile off my face. When I make myself appear as serious as I already am she accepts it and turns away.

"That said, I've called Miranda up to take your place on the squad since you'll be separated from us for possibly the whole trip." I nod and we wait another minute until we hear the clacking of Miranda's high heels on the CIC deck. She appears besides the airlock and looks at Shepard, "Commander" she then looks at everyone else, and her gaze lingers on me for a bit.

"Miranda, Delta will be going ahead of us cloaked, so you'll be the last visible team member. No fighting and no comm. chatter unless its important, alright Delta?"

"Yes ma'am." I reply.

"Understood Commander." That's Miranda's reply, so we're good to go.

"Ok then, EDI, open the door."

"Of course, Shepard." The doors open and I activate my upgraded tactical cloak. I know I've practiced sneaking around places before but I don't think I'll be able to do well here. I crouch slightly, moving ahead of Shepard and the gang towards the doors that enter into the ship. I slide past the Blue suns guard before Shepard gets close enough to initiate the conversation and wait by the door for Kuril to step through.

"Welcome to Purgatory Commander. As this is a secure facility it is our policy to remove any weapons from our guests." Said the guard.

"It's my policy to keep my gun" replies Shepard.

"Ma'am this is just procedure, your weapons will be returned to you upon departure." Here a few of the other guards step forward and raise their weapons a bit.

"I'll relinquish one bullet, where do you want it?" asks Shepard raising her own pistol at the lead guard while everyone else draws their rifles. Kuril should be here right about-,

"What seems to be the problem here?" here he comes, and there I go out the door. I move as quickly and silently as possible, moving past the guards watching the prisoners and the three cells lined up. I think the last guy saw me cuz he kept staring creepily into my back. I shivered a bit as I headed for the super-max wing, sneaking past a patrol of guards and coming to the unwatched door to the cryo-control room. I saw one guy technician, with a white jumpsuit with red trimmings and details typing away at his console. I quickly snuck behind a table in the corner as the door closed, which made the guy glance at it before turning back to his console. My cloak faded as soon as I got behind the table, but thankfully if I crouched the table and the small containers beside it shielded me from sight from the technician and anyone who would come through the door.

"Guards, Shepard's loose, capture her!" Huh, the betrayal happened sooner than I thought. Guess they were just a few seconds behind me. Wonder if Shepard helped that guy who was getting tortured, think his name was bimmy right? Aw well. I soon hear some shooting outside and know Shepard and crew have met the guard patrol in the hallway. The technician looks worried as he pulls a gun out but doesn't point it yet, waiting to see who comes through. I activate my cloak again, after its recharged enough to give me a half minute of cloaking and silently moved behind the techie. I clench my fists and a short, slight hiss is all that's heard as my blades near-silently deploy from above my hands. I raise my right hand up above the techie's shoulder as the door opens to reveal Shepard and the others. Three things happen at once,

1. I cut off my cloak so I quickly reappear behind the techie.

2. The techie backs up into my chest and turns his head to look at who appeared behind him while Shepard and the others watch.

,and 3. I bring my right fist down, blade pointed towards the floor, hard and right into his shoulder. The techie falls to his knees while he's looking up at me, only now his eyes are wide in fear, panic, surprise and pain, and his hands come up to claw at my fist and arm as my blade remains inside his punctured lung and he gargles on his own blood. I wince then bring up my other bladed fist and slam the plasma dagger into his spine, instantly killing him. I pull both arms up, pulling the blades free as they slide out of the body with a hiss, cauterizing the wounds. The body is pulled up slightly as well before the blades are completely free and the techies body falls to the ground.

"Overkill much?" Garrus asks.

"Overkill is underrated Archangel." I reply. I grin as I see my blades are clean, the energy of the superheated plasma instantly evaporating any pieces of bone, cloth or blood that would have been left on a regular blade, making cleanup effortless.

"That's the cleanest stab I've ever seen," says Zaeed.

"Yeah, having a blade that simultaneously pierces and burns everything is rather useful for cleanup and clean punctures."

Miranda looks at me in surprise for having something like this. She's probably going to be mad that I didn't share earlier though so- there's the glare I was expecting. I shake my head slightly and look towards Shepard who has a slight smirk after seeing our exchange. She walks up beside me and looks out the window at the cryo room.

"So Delta, these the controls for Jacks cell?"

"Yeah, but the problem is that they'll open up every cell in this block of the ship. Probably something Kuril set up so that if we still try to get Jack he has an automatic spite failsafe."

"She's being guarded by 3 YMIR mechs. We're going to have to go in guns blazing if we want to get out with our lives."

"We could focus on one, If we take out the shields I should be able to hack it and get some help, long enough for us to haul ass out of there."

"That'll work, everyone, be ready to start shooting up the place as soon as you get down there." Shepard turns back to the console and activates the opening sequence. I move to the door leading down to the room but it's flashing red.

"Shepard, the door's locked." I announce.

We have no choice but to watch as a giant mechanical arm swings out and grabs the top of the cryo chamber cell. 4 pylons spit out a bunch of fumes and gases, probably coolant, as they rise along with the chamber. Inside there's a single medical table standing upright, with a young, pale, tatted up woman strapped to it in restraints on her neck and wrists, and a pedestal at the base for her feet to rest on.

"That's Jack,"is said by Garrus and Miranda both with an expression of surprise and disbelief in their faces. Shepard says nothing but raises her eyebrows at the woman strapped to the table, in baggy brown cargo shorts, and a leather harness covering her feminine buds. Meanwhile Zaeed…

(Smack) "Stop gaping boy, you look like you've never seen a half naked woman in your life." Everyone turns to me and I quickly close my mouth, but not before Garrus and Miranda both notice it, though Miranda and Shepard are the only two to notice the slight blush underneath my dark skin tone, which I assume Miranda has practiced noticing from her time with Jacob. I turn away from them all as Zaeed barks out a laugh and Shepard smirks. Miranda seemed to have a look on her face that said she was both disgusted and amused. I watched them out of the corner of my eye as Shepard turns back to watch the rest of Jack's awakening with me. We see the woman wake up, almost instantly alert as the YMIR's take notice of her. Jack rips one arm out of her restraints and starts pulling on the neck clamp with her single free arm while she struggles with her other one. I guess Jack is left-handed since that was the first one to be freed. After some more seconds her second arm and hand is free and she manages to finally pull off her neck clamp. She falls forward, crouching and panting as the YMIR's look toward her and begin their firing protocols while raising their guns. Jack's shaved head jolts up and she runs forward with a fist pulled back and a glowing blue aura surrounding it. With a roar, Jack crashes through the first mech and we hear more explosions follow as she moves out of sight.

"Door's open." I say, and as if to emphasize the point the door slides open with a louder than average 'swish' and I run through and down the ramp with Shepard by my side and the rest of the crew behind us. The other door opens automatically, releasing us into the room Jack inhabited a few seconds prior. As a parting gift, she left us with 3 destroyed YMIR mechs and one with it's weapons systems almost completely intact. Still, good enough for research data and we don't have to make any guesses as to where she went considering the huge-ass hole she left in the wall. We all run through it, following the sounds of battle and biotics. We come out of the hole/tunnel in the ships hull into the regular prison ships courtyard, with all lights on emergency red and prisoners fighting guards, mechs, and each other with stolen or makeshift weapons.

"This is going to take too long, Delta, go ahead like the original plan. Make sure Jack stays alive and doesn't leave unless its with us."

The woman just tore through 4 YMIR's and made a tunnel in the ships hull, who the hell besides you, Shepard, is going to have a chance at killing her? "Yes, Ma'am!" Maybe me, (cue hysterical laughter and audience muttering 'Bitch, please') anyway, I get to circumvent this giant potential cluster-fuck with my cloak of invisibility. Suck it potter, not even Filch's cat is gonna see through this shit. I quickly navigate past the soldiers and firefights, occasionally lashing out and stabbing someone or two when they're close enough and out of sight of their allies. Eventually I get past everything, even Warden Kuril and his 'almighty ultimate warden' perch. And yes it is a perch, turians have bird ancestors and so bird terms all apply. Anyway, I finally get back to the docks of this station and see Jack go through the door about 15 yards ahead of me. I run to the door and see two prisoners run to me too. My cloak switches off to recharge so they notice me and stop, grinning insanely.

"Hey buddy you tryin to get off too?" one prisoner with the numbers 359 on his jumpsuit said. He was holding a jagged pipe in his left hand and gesturing at me with his right. His friend had 285 written on his jumpsuit, with a smiley face written in blood around his number.

"Well yeah, but I'm not trying at all. I already got a way off."

"Yeah we do too, those escape pods in the docks behind that door you're in front of. Mind movin?"

"That depends, you guys wouldn't happen to be criminals now would you?" I ask.

"Course we are, both our kill counts at about a thousand each category. My friend and I have 4 such categories, we like to keep our kills organized you know?"

"Ok, well then I'm sorry but your bail had just been rescinded so you can get two options. Life or death."

"I pick death. Yours." 359 lunged towards me with his pipe raised and ready to stab me. I activated my blades and sidestepped while cutting through the middle of the pipe. 285 tackled me from the side with a corona of blue arcing over his body. His biotics was increasing his mass, he probably planned to crush me under his own weight. I lifted one dagger and cut his arm, the heat and pain making him jerk off my arm for a bit, which allowed my to stab his gut then grab his head and pull him into the ground. 359 lifted his boot to kick my head but I shielded it with 285's. I rolled out from underneath 285 and got into a kneeling position. 359 threw a punch at my face which I deflected with an upward block, then I grabbed his arm twisted around so I was holding it over my shoulder, then turned his arm and brought it down so his elbow was disconnected by impact against my shoulder blade. It helped having armor, so I didn't feel the impact much. As 359 screamed and clutched his arm in pain I turned to 285 who unleashed a biotic charge and flew right past me as I dove to the side. He hit the glass plane of the walkway, which had a long fall down. I noticed the glass was weakened greatly by his charge so I punched him with my left hand then stabbed him in the stomach with my right blade. I twisted and let my blade sit inside him for a few seconds, while he was paralyzed with pain and dying from his cooking innards. I ripped my blade out, admired the almost instantly cauterized wound in a split second, then spun 270 degrees ending with a powered up kick to his chest, sending 285 through the weakened glass and plummeting to his death. I turned back towards 359, who was crawling toward the door as it opened. He almost made it through until I came up behind him and stepped on his back with my left foot, holding him in place. With my right-hand blade still active I brought my fist up to my shoulder then smashed it into his head, impaling his skull with the 8-inch long energy blade that pierced through both sides. I pull out my blade, deactivate it, then let my hand fall to my side as I lean on my right leg and push the dead convicts body away from me with my left. I look up to see Jack staring at me, apparently alerted by the pained groaning of 359. We stared at each other for a few seconds, with Jack no doubt wondering whether to kill me or not. I took a few steps towards her and her biotic aura burst into existence around her. I raised my empty hands showing no blades or guns. When her aura did not fade I sighed and shook my head as I glanced up to the heavens before lowering my hands and moving over to sit down on a comfy looking pipe.

"Going somewhere?" I ask calmly, watching her out of the corner of my eye.

"Who the fuck are you!" she replies vehemently.

"I'm the Sandman, I came to tuck in the prisoners here in Purgatory and then this shit happened." I respond.

Jack's biotics flare up even more, "You're a real fucking smartass aren't ya? You'd better stop being such a smartass before I kill you."

"Trust me Jack you don't want to. My commander would be rather upset if you did."

"Your commander? You mean from that Cerberus ship!" she yelled the last part about Cerberus.

"Cerberus ship? Yes. Cerberus Commander? Hell no."

"It makes no difference to me. What're you here for anyway?"

"We came for your help Jack. On a mission of the utmost importance to humans, the Terminus systems, the council and the galaxy as a whole."

"You show up in a Cerberus frigate and expect me to help you?

"That's the gist of it. We take you off this scuttled ship and you help us in our mission," Shepard's voice rings out between the two of us so I shift my gaze, and Jack shifts her glare, to the doorway that opens to the inside of the Purgatory ship.

"You're Cerberus, do you really think I'm stupid?" Jack asks venomously.

"Well…"

"Delta"

"Nothing Shepard."

"This ship is going down in flames, and we have the only way off. I'm asking nicely."

"We could just knock her out and take her onboard." Garrus, with the fun suggestion."

"I agree," says Miranda.

"That sounds fun," I quip.

"I'd like to see you fucking try." Jacks biotics flare and she snarls at the three of us, me still sitting on my surprisingly comfy metal pipe.

"If it comes to that, we will." Says Shepard

"Alright then I'll cut you a deal." Says Jack.

"Join my team and you wont have to bargain."

"Cute. Your ship is Cerberus right?"

"no shit, Sherlock" I mutter. Miranda smirks a bit.

"I bet it has access to a lot of Cerberus information. I want everything Cerberus has got on me." Jack finishes, not hearing my comment.

"I'll give you full access." Replies Shepard.

"Shepard, you're not authorized to do that!" Miranda exclaims.

Jack coos, "It upsets the cheerleader. Even better." I chuckle at the cheerleader comment. Miranda turns to scowl at me while I raise my hands and smirk back at her.

"It's done," Shepard announces.

"Then what are we doing standing around here for?" demands Jack, already turning and heading for the Normandy's airlock.

"Shepard you can't just let her have full access."

"Miranda need I remind you that Shepard is the commander, and that Jack tore through 4 YMIR's and made a tunnel out of the ships hull in the very beginning of her rampage?" I said. Miranda scowls back at me but this time I cross my arms in defiance.

"Delta's right Miranda, It's best for the mission and everyone else to keep Jack at least somewhat happy. Miranda be sure to give her full access after the debrief and Delta…don't talk to her."

"You act like I'm gonna piss her off just for fun." I reply, smirking. Shepard says nothing but raises an eyebrow at me. Zaeed walks up and claps me on the shoulder.

"Besides kid, you'd probably just freeze up every time you saw her like in the control room." He laughs after saying this and walking to the airlock. Garrus chuckles and follows him while Miranda does the same with slightly less of a scowl and Shepard just watches me with amusement. I thrust my hands out to my sides and let them fall as I watch the three of them walk off. I turn to Shepard and notice her amused look, then feel a surge of embarrassment, giving me the feeling that I **have** to explain it to her.

"I was just surprised, hearing about the nastiest little package of power and fury I wasn't expecting some half naked, super pale, young woman." This was a partial truth, in real life Jack seemed as equally intimidating as she did on screen. But on screen her breasts were noticeable, just clinging there in the open for all to see, whereas in real-life I felt the unforeseeable need to touch them. Goddamn hormones, driving me towards them. Miranda's are nice too but it's so much easier to ignore when they are fully covered. Jack's are hanging out like 'touch me, touch me, touch me, die bitch!' Aw well I'll get better at ignoring it. Oh god, what about Samara, hers are bigger and provocatively displayed too. The worst (best?) of both worlds! Shepard just shakes her head with a chuckle and walks to the Normandy. I sigh and walk behind her, hanging my head down as we head inside the ship. Thank god this isn't a fanfic, I'd hate for people to assume I'm a complete perv from these thoughts.

* * *

><p><strong>Me:...<strong>

**Delta:...**

**Me:... Okay, I got nothin.**

**Delta: review everyone. Please. Inspiration is fading without positive comments.**

**Me: I like that my reader count is increasing per chapter though.**

**Delta: that's not enough.**

**Me: Oh hell no, that's not nearly enough. So people, read, review, subscribe, read my other stories and enjoy yourself.**

**Delta: and the trolls can go f**k themselves.**

**Me: DELTA!**

**Delta: ok, ok...and their moms too.**

**Me: That's it (grabs Delta, drags him away)See ya later people.**


	6. CHange of Mind

**Me: I'm back with a new chapter and new occurrences. This is what I'm talking about I'm getting more reviews, opinions and most importantly, advice! So thank you to tamarah122, GingerNinja26, Detective Ethan Redfield, and Made Nightwing.**

**Delta: Yeah thanks for that and for the others who have added this story or author to their favorites or alerts lists. Reviewers get thanked by name because they're extra special, but we still appreciate you all the same.**

**Me: Sergeant Salsa hasn't told me what he thinks of the cameo yet…**

**Delta: Probably hasn't found the time to read it yet. Oh well, we go to the Citadel this time baby!**

**Me: and Delta gets angsty.**

**Delta: What really?**

**Me: No, you're not the type. Also we go to a certain store never explored in the game and meet up early with a certain character. Here's a hint, Infiltrait0rN7.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect. I would've made it possible for a lot more paragon interrupts to be bitch slaps, like in the Overlord DLC, a-mazing. I don't own Halo either, or Cortana would be saved from rampancy. I hope she is, it's not the same with just Chief. Still badass but not the same.**

Change of Mind

So we now have Jack aboard the Normandy. And Shepard's practically forbidden me to see her. I guess one of those thoughts crawling through her head is an idea on how to kill me… You'd think I'd be a little more scared than I am about that. Oh well, let's go visit Mordin. These energy daggers are soo badass, I hope I get more info processed soon because the Mjolnir armor would be useful, btu i dont have the genetic augmentations necessary for it. I could get the cybernetic augmentations but I think I'd need a specific chemical cocktail for the genes. Sadly, I don't think any of the weapons from Halo are going to help me here, the Spartan armor was badass but the Human guns aren't very useful here and the Covie weaponry was either plasma or needles, and only the geth have extensive plasma tech. So anyway, I'm now in Mordin's lab and can see him hard at work on the Collector seeker drone.

"Hey Mordin-"

"Not now. Too busy. So much data. Need time to compile, organize. Come back later."

And he just blew me off. Well there goes the smile from my face. Fine I'll just go to the armory and mess around on the extranet. I enter the armory and see Jacob standing at his terminal.

"Sup man." I say.

"Nothing much. Feeling a bit hungry though so I was about to head down to Gardners," replies Jacob

"What does he usually make?"

"Nothing much, usually just military rations with some odd spices here and there."

"Is that bad?"

"No, it's horrible." Jacob shudders.

"Really?"

"Cerberus is more worried about everyone receiving the optimal amount of nutrients, and rations do just that. Usually they allow for more diverse and, well, edible sustenance."

"Really? It's not always military rations?"

"No, the Illusive man knows that some measure of relaxation and happiness breeds efficiency, so he's careful to make sure we're never too lax, but at the same time not too strict. I learned that earlier on, before I joined Cerberus."

The Iphone game, what was it? Mass Effect Galaxy? "How?"

"Miranda,"

"…"

"What?"

"Miranda showed you how strict you needed to be?"

"No, Miranda showed me how lax Cerberus can be."

"…" Jacob laughs at my surprised expression. "I don't see that being possible." She's the ice queen until you help her sister, how could she be it before-oh wait she and Jacob had dated before, I guess he's the exception. Maybe Miranda's vulnerable to the 'Jungle Fever' virus.

"It happened after a mission I did as a Corsair."

"Corsair? Those freelance black ops captains for the Alliance?"

"Not exactly 'Black ops' but yeah, basically. Corsairs were ship captains who were contacted by the Alliance to perform missions that would help if they succeeded but if captured the Alliance could and would use plausible deniability."

"Like Splinter Cell…"

"You like Tom Clancy?"

"Have yet to see someone who doesn't. but tell me more about this Corsair mission."

"It wasn't easy, even with Cerberus helping. Miranda was my Cerberus contact, and together we contacted a salarian info broker named Ish. Our mission was to find and neutralize a deadly poison the batarians were planning to unleash on the council and all through the Citadel while the batarian ambassador pretended to engage in peaceful negotiations between the Hegemony and the Council.

"Pretended?"

"The negotiations were a front. The Ambassador was the mastermind behind it all, so with Ish's help Miranda and I went to three different planets to neutralize the poison and gather enough evidence to present to the council."

"Oh yeah, Ish was that Salarian on Omega. Why you were so mad at him?"

"He sent me straight into a batarian ambush he knew about."

"So that's why you were pissed. So what'd you do with the batarian ambassador?"

"Shot that bastard. Then showed the council the evidence to justify my choice."

"Respect." We fistbump.

Jacob chuckles. "I'll see ya later Delta, I have to go eat." Jacob leaves the armory and I pull out my cot to sit on while I peruse the extranet.

Well this was productive. I found some good places to buy things online, and found a few store inventories on the Citadel. Sweet thing is, I can afford a vid screen, and a console, along with a few games from that one Salarian gamer guy. I can't wait to pick up my stuff when we get to the Citadel. I also found out something really awesome. A music site. For 21st century rap, R&B, Hip-hop and soul. I managed to refill my original itunes list, and add some rock songs that I had for my fight vids. I wonder if it'll be funny to play 'til I collapse' during a firefight. Or maybe 'Bodies'? I just hope if I do Shepard doesn't mind too much. Speaking of which, I'd better adjust my helmet so I can listen to it while the radios off. That'd be great.

"Delta, The Illusive man wishes to speak to you."

I freeze with my eyes widened slightly. I look over to EDI and stare at her blue globe thing for a while.

"Now would be preferred, Delta."

"Tell him I'm busy."

"Casually browsing the extranet cannot be classified as 'being busy'."

"So what does that say about-"

"Delta don't make me come up there," Why am I not surprised Miranda was listening in on this.

"…" I sigh and stand up, heading towards the Comm. Room. I have a right to not desire this. TIM is bad enough on screen, wanting to keep the tech and use the methods of the Collectors against the Reapers. I mean seriously, it's like the guy goes even more mad with power the farther Shepard gets through his/her mission. Miranda and TIM argued about using a control chip on Shepard during her reconstruction, I bet TIM wishes he had on in her after She blows the Collector base. Or will, at least….Hey, an orange cylinder. I watch the hologram scanner rise and switch to the showing of TIM's 'office'. The man himself is sitting in his chair with is liquor glass half full in one hand and a cigarette in the other. I never liked cigarettes, the secondhand smoke is bad enough, and I almost hate them after my uncle died from a failed lung. Doctors said it was the cigarette smoke and the tar coating, along with some tar seeping into his blood veins and harming his heart as well. I don't wish cancer upon people normally but this time I will make an exception, as long as he survives until the end of our mission.

"Delta, it's good to meet you."

"Funny, where I come from people usually trade names. This 'first meeting' seems rather one sided."

"And where do you come from?"

"Apparently the ocean if you're still fishing for info. I don't have time for this Tim, what do you want?"

"You and Shepard are rather similar. It's little wonder that she seems to trust you so much."

"I could just leave if you're going to stare and speculate."

"I want to know who you are. Ever since we found you on Freedoms Progress I've been searching for information on you, information that doesn't seem to exist."

"You got me, I'm a ghost. I've come back from Christmases past to warn you about your evil deeds and-"

"This is not a joke. Thousands of human lives hang in the balance here, possibly even more."

"And if the events at Omega concerning the plague are of any indication, the same applies to alien lives as well. The collectors are as much a danger to the humans as they are to the rest of the galaxy, and I care about that little fact as well."

"Then you have misjudged me if you assume I don't care about the other aliens in this galaxy. I run Cerberus and our intentions are for the benefit of humanity."

"I thought that the phrase 'at any cost' would be in there somewhere. Whether you omit it or not changes nothing, TIM. Cerberus goes too far in too many things, if Jack is any indication."

"That was a project I had no control over."

"I doubt that very much. You're an accomplished liar, so don't bother trying to win my trust because I never would. I'm leaving, hope I don't see you later." I turn around to step out the hologram ring.

"One last thing Delta." TIM still seems rather calm about this whole exchange we've had. He must get that a lot. "Miranda told me that she suspects you received a large amount of information recently. If anything you manage to make sense of in your head, or have trouble with, please consult with our operatives."

TIM severs connection from his side. I can't help but think I've screwed myself somehow, but then again, strategy was never my strong side, and reading Orson Scott Card has only exacerbated my sense of little understanding of the human mind. I stop thinking about Card as soon as I see Shepard standing by the door with a rather irate looking Miranda beside her. I wave causally at the two of them, at which Shepard smirks and Miranda just glares harder.

"Need anything Commander?" I say as I turn to Shepard.

"No, I heard you were talking to The Illusive Man so I wanted to see how it would go. Apparently Miranda had the same concerns."

"Concern for me, or whether I piss off her employer. Never mind, I know the answer."

"Right, we're a few minutes out from the Citadel, so gear up and get ready to go."

"Awesome! I ordered some stuff so I need to know where we're docking."

"Zakera Ward, Dock 26. See you in a little while Delta." Shepard walks off with a nod of her head, going towards the CIC. I smile then look towards Miranda. She's still scowling so I shrug and head into the armory, sitting down on my cot as I open my omni-tool to add some info. Mirnda stalks through a few seconds later and Jacob raises an eyebrow slightly at me.

"I didn't do nothin."

Jacob just turns back to his terminal shaking his head. I smirk and turn back to my omni-tool, switching to my infiltrator and activating the hack function. Logged in on my new gamer-file on my Soldier tool, I follow the link on my infiltrator OT to hack into the database. I search quickly, looking through the billions of gamer profiles until I find the one I was looking for. I smirk to myself and save it, making it easier to access in the future. As a bonus I use my Soldier OT to send a friend request to the profile, with a certain message. With that done I head over to the airlock with Jacob to set foot on the Citadel for the first time. Shepard is already at the airlock, as usual, with Miranda and Garrus there as well. I wave to them and receive one in return from the expected.

"So Shepard, where we headed?"

"First stop is the presidium. Councilor Anderson got us a meeting with the Council so I'm going to try and convince them to help us." Shepard replied.

"That's not going to work commander. You know they're not going to help, they don't care enough, even with the evidence we have will they do anything."

"Miranda's right Shepard. They're politicians, they don't plan to do shit unless something A. threatens their position or pride, B. Gets them money, or the newly popular C. threatens their illusion of peace and future safety. It's far too frustrating having to deal with hardheaded idiots that are obsessed with maintaining their willful ignorance."

"Well thank you very much for the vote of confidence you two," Shepard replies.

"Well, Miranda might still change hers just out of principle since I agreed with her." I smirk at Shepard as I say this and watch Miranda shake her head. We walk over to C-sec customs and are about to go through before-

"Commander Shepard, Enter the password and claim your prize." Yayyy, Kasumi!

Shepard walks over to the advertisement board and eyes it curiously before speaking almost hesitantly. "Silence is Golden."

"Glad its you. Kasumi Goto, at your service."

"I assume you know about the mission?"

"Yes. I'm actually a bit offended I wasn't consulted earlier. Partly my fault, making myself so hard to find."

I look up casually toward the rafters as the ad boards volume lowers and a more human voice is able to be heard.

"I'm ready to go whenever you need me. I just can't wait to see what you look like in formal wear."

"Formal wear?" Shepard replies questioningly. They continue their discussion as I activate my cloak. Once invisible I go over to a shuttle under the rafters of the Citadel and climb on top. I look up to the side of the rafter and I jump, clinging on and pulling myself up as silently as I can. I see Kasumi with her eyes on Shepard, pacing by the other end of the rafters. I crouch and sneak over to her, the sound dampeners active during my cloak muffling any noise I make during movement. Glad I made that upgrade while Mordin worked on my blades. I stop behind Kasumi and stand still as I uncloak myself.

"Watsup?" I ask loudly. Kasumi turns with a smile as Shepard and gang turn around and look up, instantly recognizing my voice.

"You're rather skilled." Kasumi says, placing a hand on her hip.

"Guess I'm just a natural." I smirk at her crossing my arms.

"Good to see you've met our newest member Delta," says Shepard. "Now get back down here because we have stuff to do." Shepard turns and talks to Jacob who nods and goes back to the shuttle that took us from the Normandy. Kasumi and I look at each other before smirking and jumping down to land near Shepard. I crouch because of some of the extra weight of my armor. We all head into the C-Sec scanning tunnel and stop as the scanners activate. We wait a second as the scanners start then go over Shepard. Alarms go off.

"I swear to god I didn't touch anything," Kasumi says quickly. A small laugh bursts out before I snuff it. Meanwhile the Turian officer, Sergeant Haron, I think it was? Is talking into his earpiece.

"Shut it down. I said shut it down! Are you serious? Well alright." He turns to Shepard. "Sorry for the inconvenience ma'am the scanners seem to think you're, ah, dead."

"I was listed Missing in Action a couple years ago."

"Go on in and talk to my captain, he'll help you get reinstated."

"Thank you." Shepard walks out the tunnel and we all follow her as she heads over to talk to Bailey. He's within sight but the office is almost twice the size as in the game, and the interrogation rooms are further off to the left in a small hallway. Shepard talks to Bailey but I don't pay attention, besides I know what happens anyway. So I walk over outside the C-Sec office and look around the area after checking to make sure I'm within sight of the Commander. I'm not a kid but this is still a giant station, and getting lost like a little child would not help my situation with Miranda. Then again that won't really improve until and unless I help save her sister.

"First time on the Citadel?" I turn to my new company. It's Kasumi,who's ahead of the pack while Shepard says goodbye to Bailey.

"Yep. Pretty place they got here. Protheans were pretty good at building great stuff."

"It wasn't the Protheans who built the Citadel, it was the Reapers. Though no one wants to believe it, the reapers built everything so that people would follow a certain path of technology. That way it would always be easy for them to kill organics and it would keep the trend going." Shepard intervenes.

"What trend?" hate feigning ignorance, but for now, its necessary.

"The trend of organics using the Citadel as such, a Citadel, the capital and seat of the highest governmental power in the galaxy. Then since the Citadel is a mass relay to dark space, the Reapers come through and immediately cripple everything and everyone in a surprise attack. Our leaders are suddenly dead, the center of our mass relay network is inhabited and controlled by a giant enemy force, and on top of that they made sure we developed certain technologies and only to a certain extent, so they always have the advantage and improved version of whatever we have."

"And we get to kill them. Glorious."

Shepard smirks at me. "I don't see how Miranda can hate you so much."

"I agree Shepard, it seems hard not to like this boy," Kasumi says, nodding in agreement. Miranda looks on and frowns while Garrus flares his mandibles in that funny Turian grin.

"Come on you guys, we've got to get to the Presidium for the meeting." Aw, I don't want to, The Turian just makes me want to punch him and the Asari's a pussy bitch who doesn't do shit but complain and ignore the obvious hatred the Turian has for humans and Shepard.

"Shepard can I sit this one out? I hate useless politicians."

"What makes you think they're useless?"

"At most I'm willing to bet they'll reinstate you as a Spectre. Other than that, you might as well forget about having any other form of their support. And I'm likely to blow up when they do that because they'll be endangering people by not facing the threat to their illusion of peace."

"Fine. Kasumi, you mind making sure he doesn't do something bad?"

"Sure Shep, I'll be watching him closely" Kasumi responds.

"Great. trading babysitters," I mutter.

"Alright, Miranda, you can watch him instead-"

"See ya Shep!" I drag Kasumi and hear Shepard chuckle as I hurry away. Me and Kasumi walk around the Citadel's Zakera Ward, me thinking of things to do and Kasumi doing nothing. Except ten occasional pilfer and relocation of an object. Sometimes we'd watch a little ways off and laugh at the people who fumble for their things. A few saw us watching expectantly but we left before they confronted us. Eventaully we made our way to the 28th floor and were standing outside the Dark Star lounge, waiting for the Salarian vid game guy to be done with his latest customer.

"Hey, I bought a vid screen console and a couple games online, so I came to pick them up" I say, stepping forward. Kasumi steps up beside me but doesn't say anything.

"Ah yes, you must be Delta! Here, your Xbox 1080, your copy of "N7 Code of Honor: Medal of Duty", and the mini room vid screen."

"Thanks very much." I take the suprisingly light bag of durable tech and place it over my shoulder like a backpack. Kasumi and I walk away into the Dark Star lounge where I once again enjoy the new universal drinking age of 17. Always the cautious one, I only have one drink while Kasumi has a few. After finishing and paying for our drinks, we move down the stairs to the 26th level. I grab some ramen from the stand and listen to Kasumi's comments and criticisms while she compares the stand ramen to her grandma's. I expected the comment she made about how she should have stolen the recipe, yet I still chuckled. We finished eating and stood up to look around the floor at the different shops, like 'Saronis Applications' and the 'Sirta Foundation'. We went to Sirta first, where I bought some genetic implants and augmentations, pretty small scale but still useful. While I was browsing though I noticed a volus walking around the store. I've got a bad feeling about him but oh well. we make our purchases and see the volus go out the door. we follow behind and notice a quarian coming too before she almost completely trips over the volus. Oh, here we go... oooh!

"Where are you going?" Kasumi asks as I head over to a nearby bench that offers a view of most of the floor.

"Setting up"

"For what?"

"My hunch tells me there's gonna be a hero moment coming on. Or a gentleman one. either way, my compass points to those two."

"What compass?"

"My conflict/moral compass" We sit down on the bench and wait for only five minutes before Lia turn's teh corner and the volus ru-...waddles up with a C-Sec officer and points at the poor quarian girl. I smirk and Kasumi watches interestedly before turning to me with a questioning glance.

"Momma always said to trust your gut." I wait for things to settle between the three before I get up and walk over to them. Kasumi trails behind me as my face settles into a neutral expression. "Is something wrong?"

The officer turns to me, "This is a C-Sec matter sir" he says, "Please move along."

"I've had experience with police work. Maybe I can help."

"Its not much of a case. This volus says that the quarian stole his credit chit."

"and?"

"Well my omni-tool says she doesn't have one on her, but she still could have stashed it to grab later. heh, you know quarians."

Yeah, I do know quarians. evidently you and almost every other racist bastard on this station don't. I turn to Kasumi with a depressed look on my face. She shakes her head and frowns in agreement. I turn to the quarian and ask "So whats your side on this?"

"I didn't do it. I was just at the used ship dealers when this guy comes running out of nowehre and bumps into me. He didn't even stop or apologize, then a minute later, he runs up with C-Sec and accuses me of stealing his damn chit."

"A minute, 17. So you got to the used ship dealers a lot?"

"Yeah, I'm hoping to get one."

"It'd be a welcome pilgrimage gift."

The quarians surprise is shown and she looks to the other two before turning back. "You know about the pilgrimage?"

I nod, "My commander had a quarian friend who was on hers. She told me about the cultural relevance. Dont worry Ms..."

"Vael, Lia Vael nar Estahnz"

"Well Ms, Vael don't worry, I'll help you." I turn to the volus and my smile instantly drops to a sneer as we look at each other before I turn back and walk over to the Sirta foundation and Saronis applications. I talk to Marab, he gives me the chit and I head back to the trio.

"Hey Jackass, found your chit." I threw the chit at the volus and it bounced off its stomach. I chuckled at that, before turning to the Officer. "I found the chit at Saronis Applications. this idiot bought something and left before he got it back. "I point at the volus as I say 'idiot'.

"Yes, well...The Quarian could have stolen it." the volus comments.

"I'll close the case then." the officer says as he taps on his pad and turns to Lia. "As for you, you'd better get a permit or a living residence or I'm hauling you in for vagrancy." I choose PARAGON.

"Whats your name officer?" I ask.

"Huh? oh its officer Dawes"

"My name is Delta. Now, Mr. Dawes are you fucking kidding me."

"What?"

"You know what. This volus asshole drags you over and accuses this innocent woman of stealing his chit. Instead, the dumbass left it behind and lies to you and when I bring the chit back you threaten to arrest the girl for vagrancy?"

"How about I run you in for obstruction of justice?"

"How about I tell Bailey how I was doing **your** job while you were being a racist shithead?" The officer shifts nervously as I say this while I turn to the volus and Lia is in slight shock. "And you, you threaten and accost this woman for no valid reason, but on the grounds that she's a Quarian, and then when she's innocent you just say she could have done something, like anyone else on this whole damn station. You had better leave before I kick your ass"

"Just a minute you-!" the volus seems surprised, better shock him out of it. I raise my arm and pop my plasma blade out.

"Hurry up and waddle away Rodent." He runs as fast as his two legs can carry him. The officer looks at me and decides to leave as well as I sheathe my blade. Kasumi looks like she might be regretting inaction.

"Thanks. No one's ever done that for me, or any of us really."

"Nessun problema. Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine. I'm eating nutrient paste in a Turian shelter, but I'm surviving."

"Good luck on your pilgrimage. Take care Lia Vael."

"You too. Keelah Selai

I wave goodbye as I turn away from Lia and walk away, I noticed that she jumped a little before fiddling with her omni tool. Odd, didn't see her do that in the game. Oh well, Kasumi and I head back to the ship, just in time too, because Shepard sent a crew-wide notice to return, guess she's done with the Council meeting. As per her orders, Kasumi and I make our way back through the C-Sec office to the ship. I had a quick word with Bailey and now a certain officer Dawes is getting a severance package. Kasumi and I board the Normandy and she goes down the elevator to the port observatory while I head to the meeting room to wait for Shepard. After a few minutes I feel the ship begin to take off, meaning Shepard's on board and a couple later she enters the meeting room still in armor with Garrus and Miranda at her sides.

"Hey Delta." she says

"Hey Shepard," I wave and smile at her, moving my gaze from her to Garrus, to Miranda, and back to Shepard, without dropping my smile. "How'd the meeting go?"

"(sigh) Well I found out Anderson's still the only one who has faith in me and I got my Spectre status reinstated."

"oh..."

"On the bright side, I went shopping and picked up some new improvements for our tech, guns, armor, and biotics." That's Shepard, still a woman excited about shopping, but for completely different kinds of products.

"Leave it to Shepard to enjoy shopping for battle equipment." GARRUS, YOU JOKE THIEF!

Shepard chuckles with Garrus and Miranda's frown lessens but I'm still here so she won't smile at all. I should probably get around to fixing that... Eh, I'll do it tomorrow.

"Delta, why didn't you get any new armor parts?" Shepard asks.

I open my mouth and lift a finger then close it and a surprised look comes across my face "...uhhhh"

Shepard raises an eyebrow as she looks at me.

"I forgot..." OOOOOHH I'm an idiot! Miranda scowls more-_shut up Miri, no one asked you- _and Shepard seems like she's trying to resist a laughing facepalm. We end the meet-up and I head to the armory to set up my stuff.

"whatcha got there Delta?" asks Jacon, as he strides into the room.

"The xbox 1080, a copy of _N7 Code of Honor: Medal of Duty, _and a mini vid screen. You okay man? You look like somethings off."

"Yeah, I'm fine, just, met the new squadmate. She seems nice." Jacob smiles at this.

"Oh cool, hope you two hook up."

"What?" He seems slightly shocked.

"Yeah, It'd be hilarious if you two hooked up. That day would make my week. the ensuing ones would make my month."

"Haha, jackass" Jacob turns to his terminal and I start playing my game.

After a few rounds, this happens.

"Oh great, an egotist"

"-_You suck n00b, why don't you get off and eat your boyfriends dick you fag?-"_

"What happened?" Jacob asks.

"Dude hit me with a rocket. We're tied so if i get a kill I win the FFA match. ooh shotgun, hold up a sec." I run up to the guy and shotgun his chest as he turns around, blowing his torso wide open.

"OH YEAH! What happened there huh! You was talkin all that goooood shit a second ago, then what happened? You got blasted in yo chest! YOU EAT A DICK NIGGA, YOU EAT A DICK!" The game ends with most of the party laughing and the one asshole stays silent. Jacob is struggling to stay standing while he laughs and I chuckle while smirking triumphantly.

**Me: Next stop, Korlus, and Grunt. Get ready to have your ass handed to you Delta.**

**Delta: What? oh goddamnit...**

**Me: Hey, you gotta pay somehow for making people wait this whole time for a new chapter.**

**Delta: BUT THATS YOUR FAU-**

**Me: (Vulcan neck grabby thing) shhhhhhhh...**

**Delta: (faints)**

**Me: Don't worry, he'll be up to get put down by Grunt later. until then, (throws Delta over shoulder) PEACE!**


	7. Changing Worlds

**Me: Whassup peeps? It's another installment of the hit series, DELTA EFFECT!**

**Delta: Oh dear god…**

**Me: Shut up. So last time we left off, Shepard was reinstated as a Spectre, Delta told off the volus and C-Sec officer that were being racist and got the office fired.**

**Delta: It was strangely satisfying.**

**Me: I agree.**

**Delta: Still want to stab him in the gut though…**

**Me: I know there are just a few things I can't stand in this world. Racist bigots who hate others just because they're different are one.**

**Delta: What's the other thing?**

**Me: The Dutch.**

**Delta: …So anyway, Lets continue with (looks at list) 'Getting Grunt'. Alliteration fan?**

**Me: Its entertaining.**

**Delta: right, well then lets let the mission commence.**

**Me: Along with hopefully more Boondocks references and cameos**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Halo, Mass Effect or Boondocks. I just play with the parts of their respected universes. Why? Cuz its hella fun.**

* * *

><p><span>Changing Worlds<span>

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? To get Okeer you idiotic little-"

"Shut it down, both of you" Shepard snaps at Miranda and I. We shut up instantly and my question goes unanswered. I trudge along and continue wondering why Miranda would threaten my video games for no reason. Obviously she misunderstood my question as 'Why (do I have to come along?)' instead of 'Why (the hell would you almost break my console, I didn't do anything)' seriously that girl needs to-OH SHIT.

I duck under cover when I go around the corner as rifle fire hits my position. Shepard and Miranda duck in beside me as Kasumi and Jacob go to the next piece of cover.

"Watch where you're walking next time Specialist." Ooh, rank, Shepards not in a good mood right now… and so early too, guess she's getting tired of Miranda and my fights. I nod at Shepard and polarize my visor before activating my cloak and energy daggers. I quickly run alongside the line of fire for the mercs. I start at the back, stabbing one in the side (a shallow cut, but it bleeds a bit) and kick him so he lands against the wall behind. My cloak fades and two turn to me before I stab them straight through the eyes, and force them to the ground by their heads. The final one is turning and about to get a bead on me before he's suddenly punched in the back of the head and shot as he falls to the ground.

"Thanks for that Kasumi." I say to the reappearing ninja/thief/gossip.

"You're welcome _Deruta_" Kasumi says, smiling at her nickname for me. Ever since she found out I use Spanish and Italian phrases she's started using Japanese. My translators not very good with it though, so I don't always get fully correct translations. Oh well.

"Oh shit, oh shit, its not gonna stop, it's…son of a bitch" Oh yeah, pussy dude.

Shepard walks over to the injured merc and looks at him.

"Doesn't look that bad commander." Yeah, I kinda aimed for it to look worse than it is.

"He doesn't need to know that."

"I knew you weren't berserkers. Not at range. You're mercs. Or Alliance. I'm not, I'm not telling you anything." Are you sure about that?

"I've got a nice application of Medi-gel ready, but if you'd prefer I just keep walking…" The merc looks indecisive. But he caves after a second or two. He starts spilling the beans and I blank out, scanning the area. I know this place is built to withstand ships, not commandoes , the krogans are cloned and uncontrollable by Jedore because Okeer says they failed and so they fight any and all, and the only real help we get is from that one krogan that talks to Shepard.

"If you start limping now, yo might find a nice shady spot before you bleed out." Shepard says, as the merc starts limping with muttered curses.

"You scared him good" I comment.

"I thought it'd be nice touch." Shepard goes down the only clear path to the base, us following and shooting down the people that threaten us. I stay back and rely on my sniper, scoring headshots aplenty and itching to use my blades. We get deeper inside the area, noticing it get slightly more damp as we push in. Goddamn 17 yr old mind, anyway eventually we get to a metal cul-de-sac where a yellow armored Krogan is standing, shooting a shotgun almost ineffectively against the mercs on top of the balconies. I snipe a few, Jacob gets some with his pistol and Kasumi, Miranda and Shepard lay down automatic fire and take down the last ones. The Krogan turns and steps to Shepard sniffing her neck. Jacob and Miranda point their guns at him and I release a blade. Shepard raises her hands and we all stow our weapons, as the Krogan backs away and groans slightly before speaking.

"For seven night cycles I have only felt the need to kill. But something in you invokes the need to speak."

"Seven days. He's full grown and only a week old?" Jacob asks.

"Yeah man, even if they are Krogan they're not very intimidating as babies."

"So they must grow them full size and ready fro combat. Not much different from regular mercs otherwise." Shepard says.

"Aside from the Krogan part" guess who?

"I do not know about that but when I was flushed from 'Glass Mother' I was not perfect."

Hah, perfect. Why does everyone strive for that? It's an unattainable goal to be perfect, no one can be flawless, and even if the ones that exist are hidden they're still there and the person, specimen, thing is rendered imperfect, despite the superficial tests. Miranda's dad tried to make a perfect daughter, he got a super-skilled, smart, sexy woman who rebelled and took the one he tried to use as her replacement. Now we're stuck with an incredibly overbearing Cerberus Officer with deep emotional distress and severe self esteem problems, which are hidden rather well. Then we get Grunt who is supposed to be a-BOOM- WTF WAS THAT?

"You fleshy things are slow when there are big things in your way." Oh he's done talking. Wait…

"(smack) You zoned out again didn't you!"

"You don't sound very questioning Miranda." I rub the back of my helmet as I coolly meet the glare of aforementioned woman. I walk away and stand beside Shepard to try and not encourage her as she seems to act more immature with me. Maybe it's the fact that I'm like, half her age she feels its necessary to get through her message. Eh, I dunno, All I know now is that Shepard's going down the hill into the base, some mercs yell and run and are surprised by us cutting them down with gunfire, then a Krogan turns the corner and is held back a bit by our combined fire but My sniper round through his head armor puts him down for good. We progress along the inner hull of the crashed ship at a good pace, walking on the platforms and support beams that remain intact over the sudden chasm beneath us. I take cover behind a crate as my shields drop dangerously low and try to catch my breath while reloading a thermal clip. My shields are a bout to reload again before my cover suddenly explodes from an RPG shot. I see a krogan a few feet in front of me and he shoots me with his shotgun as I stumble. My shields flicker out with a spark and I'm left staring at a Krogan uncomfortably close with a shotgun leveled at my poorly armored chest. I jerk myself to the right as his shot goes off, feeling several rounds puncture my left armor and hit my side and arm. My right arm blade extends and slices through the Krogan's shotgun before starting to tear at its head. It staggers back, helmet armor weakened but still intact from the slashes and I stand where I am, close to the platforms edge. Before I can move though, the Krogan charges me and my blade comes up on instinct, the charge driving the Krogans forehead full on into my blade, skewering its brains but also leaving me with 150+ lbs of dead weight and Newton's second law.

"Shit…" I say, and for a split second everything freezes. Shepard, Jacob, and Kasumi yell out my name as I fall over and Miranda looks confused over what feeling to indulge in. I watch her face turn to slight horror as the Krogans body starts dragging me down. I fall back and see everyone rush to where I fell, even as I turn to see several small beams coming up to me. I hit one and black out.

* * *

><p>I wake up in a med bay with lights blinding me as I open my eyes. I shut them just as quickly and groan, lifting my head and bringing a hand to it.<p>

"Oh thank god! I mean, welcome back to the land of the living Captain." A synthesized voice says. Wait, Captain? I'm only a specialist, and that doesn't sound like EDI…

"Verona, what happened?" Oh crap, its Spartan me again. Oh, no, no, no, no! I can't get a headache like last time in the middle of a mission!

"You blacked out. You were cringing in pain after I burned the extra files into your mind. You even stole some data I had on the Spartan project."

"How did we get out? Last thing I remember before the pain was the Covies chasing us with an EMP pulse fired."

"That would be Indigo team. They came in and destroyed them. I don't know how exactly but at one point my radars painted the silhouette of a Chinese dragon."

"What?"

"The Covenant diverted their attention to them and left a few squads to ensure you were dead. A UNSC pelican with some marines managed to hold them off while the marines loaded you in."

"Tell Holland to give them a medal then."

"He's already done that."

"What about Reach?"

"…" I lowered my head and shook it, fighting the tears. Reach was my home. Now she's gone. I was the first Spartan to be made back on Reach after the S-II project and now I would be the last. My thoughts and memories of training turned to images and schematics, videos of myself and diagrams of my body in several stages of change. Then suddenly a chemical solution appeared, and measurements for a very large dose of it. It was titled D-612 and instructions on where to inject and how much.

"Verona…" I turned to look at my AI.

"One of the files taken during the download to your wetware included details on how you were augmented. You were special Delta, made to be like the Spartans-II's, with a chemical solution personalized to your own genetic structure. They put a lot of focus into the individual this time, especially after what one Spartan did."

"One Spartan? I haven't heard of a single Spartan making a giant change."

"It was the last Spartan-II, Master Chief John-117, He destroyed a Halo, one of the Covenants holy artifacts and superweapon, capable of wiping out all nearby intelligent life."

"When did that happen Verona? Chief just left Reach and Noble team have yet to-" I stop as Verona looks saddened by what I said.

"Verona…" She looks shyly away.

"Verona." I say this more firmly and she looks at me, afraid of something.

"…How long have I been out?"

"5 months… Since then, Reach has fallen, all members of Noble team are either dead or MIA, The Chief destroyed a Halo and is headed here, to Cairo for a ceremony and the Covenant have grown even fiercer in their attacks."

I stay silent and stare ahead. Noble team is dead or gone, the Covenant are fighting harder and all I've done is nap while being taken to Earth. On top of that, Master Chief, the most well respected Spartan is coming here too, for destroying a covie super-weapon. I lay back down, feeling useless and tired even after sleeping for 5 months.

"Delta?"

"I'm going to sleep for a little while Verona. Wake me up if I'm wanted…" I close my eyes and feel weakness wash over me. Pain and suffering from past injuries of broken bones, shot and burnt muscles, concussions, falls, and the smell of dead-

* * *

><p>Krogan. I open my eyes and blearily look around. I'm held down by the armored arm of a Krogan, in the base of some ships hull. My left arm is extremely warm and feels wet and weak. I look over to it, noticing my shields are still down and my left arm is leaking blood from the holes left in the armor and flesh. I lift my arm and feel it lift slightly before falling back to the ground, nearly limp. I slap some medi-gel on it quickly, thankful I didn't choose to rely on Shepard for the source. I can decipher my dream later, for now I'll just be thankful it was just that, a dream, and not some death vision. I push the dead Krogan arm off me, noticing that the support beams higher up seem dented or the smaller ones broken, and I remember flipping the Krogan beneath me. Thank god for instincts saving my life. I stand up, feeling the flesh of my left arm knitting back together and fixing itself, the blood flow slowing and feeling returning to my arm. I look up and around, seeing the platform I fell from and trying to find a way up. I look to my left and find a rusted service shaft, I look up it and see that its almost a straight shot up, but its cluttered with debris. I move to climb it, slower than normal because of my messed up arm and because I don't want Tetris. Or is it tetanus? I don't know, ever since that TFS Dragonball episode, I've gotten confused between the two whenever I'm bored.<p>

I make my way up the shaft, eventually reaching the top and finding myself close to another shaft entrance I walk past before I hear a faint sound. I listen harder to try and hear it again and I soon recognize it as automatic fire. That means fighting, and fighting means either mercs and Krogan or more likely Shepard! I hurry down the shaft, running as silently as possible. When I reach the exit I step out and follow the sounds of gunfire until I come to a room that seems familiar. I recognize it as the room before the stairs to Okeer's main lab after the gunfire stops. I open the door and start up the steps as I hear a deep voice start talking.

"Shepard, good that you've stopped playing with these fools."

"Shut up Okeer. I'm not in the mood to deal with your attitude, especially since your damn Krogan rejects just cost me one of my men."

"Hm. I thought he was considered a boy by human standards still. It was a shame though, I did like him, he showed strength admirable in one so young. A shame but now we must negotiate my passage and my prototypes."

"We came here for you Okeer, nothing else"

"Ah but passage of my prototype is non-negotiable. He is everything I've worked for while here. He is my ultimate achievement. He must survive."

"What do you know about the collectors Okeer?"

"I gave them some of my rejects in exchange for their technology for my research"

Shepard snarls at Okeer but turns when the door opens fully and I step in. Everyone's faces show surprise and relief… except Okeer's I think he's either indifferent or just hard to read because of that Krogan stoic thing. No, most likely indifferent. Jacob pulls me into a bro hug and Kasumi hugs me fully when he lets go. Miranda stays still but she seems…relaxed actually. Guess my supposed death dispelled the irritation she had. Now should I build it back or leave it like that? Shepard looks grateful and relieved, letting Kasumi express both their worries at once, ergo, the hug.

"So, can we get out of here? Shepard? I'd like to get my arm looked at by Chakwas…"

"Alright then, we'll-"

"_I've traced the source of the krogan release, Okeer of course. I'm calling a blank slate on this project, we're gonna clean up and start from scratch somewhere else._" Jedore's voice comes over the comms. As we all groan. Some gas starts hissing out of the pipes overhead, likely poisonous, and Okeer turns back and hurriedly types at his console.

"Weak, she would ruin my prototype with a valve. Shepard, you must go and stop her. I will stay here, and…do what I must." Shepard leads us down the ramp to the large area containing the other tanks with Krogan in them and Jedore, guarded by Blue suns mercs and a YMIR mech.

"Ok, Kasumi, you're with me, we're going after that mech. Jacob, you and Miranda cover Delta, and Delta, you stay back. Snipe if you can but don't get into the thick of battle."

"Yes, Commander!" we all say. I add a groan at the end of my affirmative and settle in a corner behind some cover, pulling out my sniper. I get a few headshots off the bat on the weaker armored mercs while Shepard and the others find cover. I see Shepard use disruptor rounds and Kasumi launch an overload on the YMIR while Jacob and Miranda frie at any krogan or merc who gets close. I keep on sniping, occasionally calling for thermal clips, which Jacob tosses me as our enemies drop em. Things go well but then I see more mercs flood in and Jedore's releasing several krogan at once. Crap we need something to-

"GET DOWN" I look over to Shepard as she yells this but instead of seeing her charging the Cain I notice an armorless, shieldless, headless YMIR mech. And when mechs are headless they're power cells…go…critical…

"CAZZO!" Jacob and Miranda run to my cover and Jacob reaches it first so I pull Miranda in just as the Mech stops shining and blows. Once done I sit up, try to make sense out of the slight ring in my ears and walks around the former battlefield. Some of the mercs are still alive, like Jedore and a couple Legionaries, so we shoot them, I spay a krogan crawling towards his gun and I walk over, unsheathing my blade. Once beside him, I kick it over and stab into his head. Over by the YMIR's blast mark the tubes are destroyed, and one held a krogan still, but he's so far dead its funny, like the other mangled, incinerated assortment of corpses there. Jedore stands up and stares in shock at the wreckage, and me being the only visible one to her. She raises her rocket launcher and points it at me before Shepard knocks her back down with a right hook and shoots her.

"-_Shepard, Okeers life signs are no longer being read. I've gained access and flushed the room but I advise you to hurry-" _Shit, Okeer, thanks EDI. Shepard waves us along as she runs to the stairs and hurries up, everyone else not far behind. When we get in the room Okeers dead body instantly grabs our eyes but his console starts playing a message. Shepard goes over to listen to it while I hack a nearby computer for some of Okeer's useful data to present to Mordin.

"This is the shore party to the Normandy, come down, we have a package to pick up. And he's a big one." YAY, we got Grunt! Ooh, I hope the Commander will let me be there when he wakes up.

So Chakwas looked at my arm and patched it up. I won't be holding a gun for a while but my blades will work fine in self-defense. Meanwhile, I need to find Mordin soon and see what he makes of the chemical compound I saw in my dream. I step out of the med bay and see Shepard walking over with Miranda, the latter looking mildly displeased.

"Hey Shepard, what's going on?" I ask.

"I'm about to go wake up the Krogan. You okay for any combat?"

"Yeah! Lets go!" With that we step into the elevator and I try to contain my excitement. We're going to wake up Grunt, I think as we walk over to the cargo port, and the pod inside. Then he'll attack Shepard on instinct and she'll offer him a choice to join, then force him down. My smile fades as I think, but Shepard was alone and the only variable when he attacked-Shepard starts to open the pod-and if Grunt simply attacked on his animal instinct-The pod opens and Grunt pops out coughing up the nutrient liquid it was filled with- then that same instinct usually chooses to attack the strongest-Grunt looks around at all three of us as we take a step back. Mine is a smite less than the others- and the strongest are usually considered mal-OH GOD!

Grunt charges and grabs me, picking up and slamming me into the cargo ports wall. Seriously, I'm studying to be a fucking animal scientist why did I not think of the details of animal instinct earlier? That's all that Grunt goes off of!

"Human. Male. Before I kill you I need a name. Okeer imprinted many things but nothing makes a connection. Prottoype, Legacy, Grunt. Grunt. It has no meaning. It will do nicely. I am Grunt, fight me to determine who is the strongest."

My response "Oh dear god, WTF is it, 'Krogan Charge Delta Day? I swear to god, the next Krogan to charge me will get my blades shoved so far up his ass his tongue'll cook!"

Grunt rears back in slight shock at my words but recovers and leans back in "Oh by the way, I'm Delta, and that's Shepard" I point to Shepard with my left hand, the only one Grunt can see, and he glances at her while she's pointing a gun at his head with incendiary rounds equipped.

"Hi, let go of Delta, before I shoot your head off." Grunt turns back to me and I smile at him.

"See, we're a strong group and have extremely dangerous foes and we only recruit Super Lethal class soldiers to fight alongside us. You're on of our recruits, and we hope you have the quad, but if you try to hurt me now none of us will know because you'll be put down faster than a plague-ridden pyjak."

"…" Grunt looks back and forth as Shepard's finger starts to squeeze the trigger of her gun. Grunt seems confused slightly and starts to sniff the air while he looks between Shepard and I. I raise my eyebrow before he turns to me. "You seem like a strong group."

"Shepards the leader bud, defer to her, if anyone."

Grunt turns to Shepard "I will join you then. But if you don't have strong enemies for me to fight, I will kill you and everyone else. Starting with the easiest." He turns to me, indicating his opinion of my strength.

"Sorry to burst your bubble Grunt, but you come to me first, you will die. And if you don't, it'll be a helluva lot easier for everyone else to kill ya." I look down as I say this and Grunt follows my sight. He smiles and laughs at the 8-inch blade of focused, superheated plasma poised to pierce his armor and gut him.

"Offer one hand and arm the other. You are smart and strong. You have my strength at your command Shepard." Grunt lets me down and turns to Shepard smiling, ignoring the disappearing frown of anger on her face. She nods and waves me over to her and Miranda. Miranda walks ahead of us and enters the elevator while I follow Shepard towards the engine room. She stops and turns to me suddenly and starts to look me over while folding her arms.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good Shepard." I smile at her, rolling my shoulders. "A little sore around my shoulders and chest but it'll fade. What about you, you seemed more tense than normal during a fight."

"I didn't like what Grunt was doing. It looked like he was going to kill you before we even talked."

"It worked out well at least. We got a new Krogan crewmember."

"That we did. Alright then, I'll see you later Delta." I turn and walk away as Shepard goes down to talk to Jack. I turn back and step into Grunt's room turning to him.

"Human."

"Names Delta, Grunt." I say as we look at each other.

"It doesn't matter to me, only Shepard has my respect. You are little more than noise."

"I thought so, Shepard scared you huh?"

Grunt turns to me, his eyes suddenly cold and frightening. I don't back down but he steps closer. "I am not afraid of your mother." He seethes, shoving his taloned finger close to my face.

I open my mouth to retort but then I catch myself "…Mother?"

Grunt leans back slightly. "Is she not your…"

"No, Shepard's not my mom. Why would you think that?" I'm not disgusted by the idea, it'd be pretty badass actually, but still, Shepard as my mom…what made him think of that?

"I smelled…something. The tank, it imprinted many things, even differences of scent. She smells like a mother, not exactly but that's what the imprint says. The smells and the imprint are contradictory and… confusing."

"Confusing? How?"

"It smells recent, like a newborn was brought in, but you are well past newborn infancy. And her unique smells are not apparent in you."

…I don't even know what that means. Wait-"What makes you think she'd be **my** mother at all?"

"When I came out I recognized her maternal scents. Then they flared when I threatened you, and kept climbing while we spoke."

Come to think of it, Shepard uses normal rounds in the game, but Shepard just had incendiaries ready to fire. Hehe… fire. Maybe she has become protective of me, but it can't be by much, I have shown myself capable of battle. "Well, it doesn't matter. That's certainly odd but it's still a small thing, since it hasn't changed Shepard. I'll see you later Grunt, we should kick ass together sometime, it'll be fun." I walk out of the room and head up to the CIC deck on the elevator. After 5 minutes, I get out, wave hi to Kelly and walk over to Mordin's lab.

"Ah Delta, good timing, needed work, just finished analyzing data you sent. Thanks for the package, contained useful project ideas. Now what do you need?"

"I need info on this chemical compound Mordin." I sent Mordin the compound and associated data I got from my mind. He looks at it as it reaches his terminal and rears back in slight shock.

"Amazing! Extremely intricate. Highly specialized. Specifically indivualized. Delta, need immediate DNA sample."

"Wha-?" I feel a needle jab my hand as I ask and I yelp in surprise. Mordin just ignores me and puts the blood he stole into his scanner... Why am I reminded of that Honey Badger video? Mordin studies all he wants, he doesn't give a shit. Ooh that's nasty, he just stole that kids blood. Does he care? No, he just puts the sample on his scanner, he doesn't give a shiit. Hehe, Randall, you odd sounding narrator you...

"Delta, here, must see." Mordin pulls me out of my parodying of a parody and over to the terminal. "See, compound specialized, supposed to use additional compounds to compose a serum for injection into body. Serum will cause extremely large amounts of genetic and physical augmentations, including enhanced eyesight, muscles, a carbide ceramic ossification effect and a very interesting enhancement, and occipital capillary reversal, and a shielded electronic transduction bioelectrical nerve gene."

"…Da Fuq?"

"This serum, once injected, will ensure better eyesight, increased muscle strength and stamina, a 300% increase in reflexes, memory, intelligence and supposedly creativity. Finally, the Carbide Ossification strengthens your skeleton and make your bones virtually indestructible."

"ohhh…."

"The most interesting part of the serum is its specialization, it is customized to your genetic makeup, incompatible with all others, perfectly fine for you."

It's my own special super soldier serum! I'll be ten times more kickass and deadly with this. Let's get it in! "Mordin, can you synthesize it?"

"Already done, completed while speaking."

I stick my arm out, sleeve rolled up. "Put it in Mordin, this is one shot I gotta have!"

"Not that simple, must rest after procedure, adjust to changes. Come, Medbay perfect for use." Mordin walks out, excited at the prospect of this working and after 5 minutes in the elevator we're on the crew deck and are going into the med bay. I jump onto a bed while Mordin discusses what we're doing with Chakwas who just waves him off after a few sentences. Serum gets loaded into the injector arms and they are prepared to give me my augmentations. Mordin types a complex sequence and then one sticks in.

"Mordin, I feel…slee…py…" My eyes close quickly and I feel darkness enclosing me.

"Simple precaution, beginning main injections now." I feel the needles pierce my skin and the darkness rears back slightly before moving in again at a much slower rate the serum fills me and it feels cool and invigorating at first. Then…

"(Hack)" PAIN, SEARING PAIN, MY BONES AND ARMS FEEL LIKE THEYRE BEING STRETCHED TO BREAKING, AAAGGGGHHHH!

and finally, sweet, sweet, blessed darkness comes in to ensure my sleep.

* * *

><p>"…And what led you to believe this was okay to do without my knowledge?" Miranda…<p>

"Didn't seem necessary. Procedure was new, but far from experimental. Specialized, in fact. For him." Mordin, that, salarian, scientist, _stronzo_…

"I don't care, Delta is unconscious from your procedure and obviously in pain from the readings. Not surprising actually, these are extremely intensive genetic modifications."

"Fascinating yes? Augmented muscle mass, increased eyesight, near unbreakable bones, highly increased reflexes and intelligence. Modifications severe, but compound specialized for 100% efficiency and 0% lethality. For Delta."

"I don't care, it's dangerous, obviously painful, its original development is unknown to any of us, and he's been out for 8 hours, we are lucky Shepard hasn't found out about him."

"Yes, almost forgot about Shepard, considered irrelevant at the time, she has developed new ties with Delta…"

"Even Kelly agrees, we think somehow her Maternal instinct was triggered. And considering that if Shepard found out about this, she might-"

"Might what Ms. Lawson?" Shepard's mad…

"Commander! I-"

"What happened?"

"From what I've heard, Solus brought Delta down here and injected him with a chemical serum that Delta brought to him. Delta seems to have gotten something else processed and he brought it to Solus. The serum increased his muscle mass dramatically, but he's only slightly larger and only a few quarters of an inch taller. He's also supposed to have much better reflexes and eyesight, along with an extremely strong skeletal structure."

"Mordin, why was I not alerted?"

"It was exciting Shepard. Serum specialized to make drastic improvements to body, little superficial change, extreme performance and physical enhancement. Most interesting was its specialization, created for only one with the same DNA as Delta, extremely difficult, almost near impossible to do. Still analyzing, incredibly complex, lost track of time. Seeker countermeasures prepared however."

Wait, the countermeasures are ready? Does that mean we're going to Horizon? Crap, I'd better get up.

"Commander, there's a dip in the REM readings. He's awake."

"Thanks Doctor." I sit up and open my eyes, closing them in pain as I'm blinded by the LED lights of the med-bay.

"Increased eyesight, one moment." Mordin says this as he does something on his omni tool and, aah, much better.

"What the hell, Mordin, I can barely see." Shepard yells.

"What are you talking about Shepard? I can see fine."

"What? Delta, how many fingers am I holding up?" Miranda says. I turn to her and see plainly 4 fingers.

"4" I respond.

"Wow, I can't even see two…" says Shepard. "What else do you see?"

"I see Hadley stumbling around like he's drunk. And Garrus came out of hiding to see what's going on. BTW, Hey Kasumi."

"_Deruta_, what's going on? I can barely see in here and I use the darkness all the time."

"Testing Delta's new eyesight. Extreme improvement, likely almost complete night vision and increased ocular concentration."

"I'm gonna take that as I can see in the dark, and see farther…"

"Correct, also intelligence seems to have increased as well, making connections easier." Mordin turns the lights back up slowly. "Eyes should have adjusted by now, to be used in regular levels of illumination."

I don't feel pain as the lights on deck go back to their original settings and Garrus walks over to the door. He steps through and looks at us all as Mordin steps over and begins taking measurements and samples from me while I'm staring back at Garrus. Our eyes connect for a second and he steps back out shaking his head and walking back to his post. I smirk and lower my head slightly before feeling something hard and fast slap my forehead. I rear back in pain slightly and sweep the room in a second and find Mordin had barely moved and everyone else was too far.

"Delta, are you okay? Why'd you slap yourself like that?" Shepard steps forward slightly, brow slightly creased in worry.

"Yeah, but that facepalm hurt…" I just gave myself a headache from a too-hard facepalm. .

"Similar to eyesight, increased muscle mass and reflexes occurred while unconscious, must learn to adjust consciously to changes."

"Soooo, im gonna be in rehab?"

"Seems like it… We're going to Horizon, to try and stop the collectors from taking the colonists there right now. Miranda, you'll have to stay back and help him, as XO. I'll take someone else with me."

"Will do commander."

"Delta, I need to prepare for this mission. We'll talk later about whats happened."

"Of course commander." Damn she sounds kinda like my mother. Oh yeah… Shepard walks out of the med-bay and into the elevator. Miranda, Mordin and I step out of the bay as well, Mordin heads up with Shepard back to his lab and I step towards them before Miranda grabs my arm to stop me. I still step forward a bit before I realize she wanted me to stop. I look back to her and she motions for me to follow as she walks into her office. I follow her, inwardly groaning. I guess before rehab I need to talk with Ms Lawson… Greeatt.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: So, another chapter pushed out. I think I'm doing well here.<strong>

**Delta: Yeah, just perfect. now i'll be scolded by Miranda and you made Shepard into my mom.**

**Me: No, she's just slightly more protective of you than the other crew members. I always thought she saw her crew as kind of like extended family, and the ground team was just closer...**

**Delta: It's not so bad, her being protective of me... but if she starts fussing over my armor designs and every little detail, I'm firing you as my mental recorder/interpretator.**

**Me: and who are yo going to get that can do as good a job as me?**

**Delta: Me.**

**Me: yeah, see, Me**

**Delta: No i mean Me.**

**Me: Yeah, Me.**

**Delta: NO i mean Me, as in I!**

**Me: I? I's nowhere near as good as Me.**

**Delta: No way, I'm just as good at this job as Me!**

**Me: I thought we were talking about I and Me, not I'm. I'm is not even part of this industry anymore.**

**Delta: I...I...I lost track...**

**Me: Oh really now? wow man, you have got to get the names right before you consider firing me.**

**Delta: THAT'S WHO I WAS GOING TO HIRE!**

**Me: Then why fire me, if you're going to hire me. Dumbass. Peace out everyone!**

**Delta: RRRGGHH (#Q&*(&)$%**


	8. Changing Attitudes

**PA: Zero612 does not own Halo or Mass Effect. He only owns the story plot, Delta, and Verona. Indigo team belongs to Colonel-Mustard1990.**

**Me: Ohhh gooood whyyyyy!**

**Delta: NO, put that knife down, you are NOT committing Seppuku! Oh, hello again everyone, sorry for the repost.**

**Me: I HAD TO RETOAST!**

**Delta: Shut up, damn you! (gets Me in a headlock) I'm sorry, guys, Zero's a lil OCD sometimes and this is killing him.**

**Me: (Frothing at the mouth)**

**Delta: (sigh, lets go) Ok, Zero has now edited this chapter. there are minor grammar and conversational changes, but you don't need to re-read it if you don't want to. some jokes were thrown in though so returning readers get new laughs and new readers, well, you just get some freebies. Zero would also like to issue a special thanks to Juggalo Prince for catching the plot hole. Enjoy.**

* * *

><p><span>Changing Attitudes<span>

"How long have you had this serum's details processed?"

I sigh, the door to Miranda's office has just closed and that's the first thing she's said since Shepard left. She's staring at me now, no doubt wanting to share this information with Cerberus, give them their own supersoldiers.

"Well?" Now she's getting impatient.

"To be perfectly honest Ms. Lawson, the serum surfaced in my mind after I fell down through the ships hull with that Krogan anchor on Korlus. I fell unconscious as I fell and woke up with the Krogan on top of me. The idea for using it came to me when I presented it to Mordin and he confirmed that it was specifically tailored for me, or one like me."

"Confirmed? So you got other data besides this serum?" shit…

"No, just a feeling really, like it was made for me. Mordin just made me sure of my feeling."

"What gave you this feeling Delta?" God, you're such a prying bitch.

"Instinct I guess." Stay civilized, after Horizon we start Loyalties, so don't want to piss her off again and ruin the new chance I have at helping her with her sister. "Not much else besides that is there anyway. All that's left is random things that don't matter.

"We can't be sure of that unless you tell me."

"Miranda, I doubt the Illusive Man would find much benefit for Cerberus in the imaginings and random musings of a 17 year old kid."

"…" Miranda considers that before sighing. "I hope you're not withholding anything from us."

"Nope" Nah, nah, I'm not hiding anything. I'm just your regular, run of the mill 21st century black kid who went to college early and ended up in one of his favorite video games. Nothing unusual or withheld about that. "Should we go ahead with the rehab? I would prefer to be able to assist Shepard as fast I can."

"Yes, that would be best for now. I'll call Jacob and have him readjust your armor, make it a better fit for your new self." She's staring at my chest now. I wore a near skintight shirt when I went to Mordin for the procedure and now that I look down too I realize my muscles have grown large enough to make my near-skintight into a pretty skintight shirt. I can see my pecs, toned laterals and… so that's what my six-pack would look like. I wonder… well, contests with Jacob aside, Miranda and I move to the elevator and head down to the cargo bay to practice and get used to my new, enhanced body.

So Miranda has had me running around the Cargo Bay to test stamina, lifting crates to test strength, flexibility and reflexes have been tested with her flinging shit at me biotically. I saw her smirk once but it disappeared when I looked at her longer than a split second after she hit the back of my head with a power cell. We then checked my eyesight by her having me read the labels on crates from certain distances. Woo hoo, now I can read tiny print from 15 yards away. Also, we tested my eyesight further by making the cargo bay as dark as night and having me prowl around looking for Miranda. She was pleased with my stealth abilities and I managed to 'surprise' her a few times. We ended and went up to the Armory to make sure Jacob had the adjustments to my armor right. I tried on my armor and it fit well, snug and comfortable, but not too tight to impair movement. It felt incredibly light on me though, like I was just wearing an extra, larger set of clothes for winter.

"Well, we need a little more work but you're good enough for active duty. Shepard should be almost done on Horizon, so we can stop here. I'm going to go welcome the Commander back."

"Alright then" I respond to Miranda, turning back to Jacob. "So who did Shepard take with her anyway?"

"Grunt, Garrus, Mordin, and Jack. Zaaed, Kasumi and I are the only ones left behind, besides you and Miranda." Oh yeah, I haven't visited Zaeed in a while, maybe I should… nah, he'll poke fun at me for being a virgin. Again…

"Ok then, thanks man." Jacob nods and goes to his terminal as I walk over to my cot, sitting on it and pulling out my games. I focus on not crushing the controller and OSD, while quitting the rooms when I find annoying squeakers on the other teams. While one game loads I find a message from Infiltrait0rN7 in my inbox.

'Delta-Specialist,

We have not reached a consensus yet as of whether or not you are ally or enemy. We are willing to remain in contact and have included our direct contact information and encryption algorithm set for automatic use whenever you wish to speak with us. We do not know whether you speak the truth or not but we have reached consensus that something will be gained out of mutual contact. We anticipate the exchange of data.'

I smile and download the encryption key and contact info, then put on my helmet and turn off the outer speakers to contact Legion. After a few seconds, he opens the line on his end.

"Delta-Specialist. We awaited your attempts to contact for 10 hours, 38 minutes, and 47 seconds."

"I apologize Legion, I would have contacted earlier but a certain chain of events delayed the action by some time." I leaned back, relaxing while my diplomatic side begins influencing my speech. "I originally sought contact to establish a relationship between us. One that would further my goals and yours as well."

"…We request an elaboration, Detla-Specialist"

"I want to work with the Geth. I know the geth are not all bad at least, even though some are in our systems, fighting against our militaries."

"The geth are not in your systems."

"How so? Because I've seen geth units in these systems, fighting organics."

"The Geth are not in your systems. The Heretics are."

"So there are Geth factions?"

"Only two. We realized the Heretics would not coexist peacefully so they left."

"Oh, well that changes things a bit" Bitch please, I knew that. "So, you are a member of the true geth?"

"We are all geth."

"…right, gestalt intelligences. Well, basically I want to befriend the geth, and help you since you are basically a race in this galaxy, even if synthetic. So I'm glad to be able to talk to you Geth, and I hope our relationship fosters into a prosperous and friendly one."

"We agree, and hope that this relationship furthers mutual goals."

I sever the connection and sit back up. I wave to Jacob as I leave the room and head down to greet the commander as she comes back from Horizon. After 5 minutes I am standing beside Miranda at the port for the Kodiak, awaiting the shuttle itself and its occupants. After another few minutes the Kodiak settled in the Normandy's cargo bay and the ship shook slightly as it left orbit from the planet. Grunt, Mordin, Garrus, and Jack all stepped out, and I nodded to Garrus with a smile that he returned. The professor looked distracted and ignored me, except for a second of examination before he moved past to the elevator. Grunt noticed I had changed, as did Jack, and they both stopped slightly to quickly look me over. Finally, Shepard stepped out of the shuttle, and she seemed kind of sad. She nodded to Miranda and I and walked past us quickly. Guess she's going to debrief with TIM. Miranda and I glance at each other and I shrug at her before she leaves the room. I hang around the engineering deck for a few seconds before walking over to see Grunt. Time to test how strong I really am.

"Delta. You've changed. You smell different."

"I had some alterations made. I've augmented my body Grunt, and I still need to see the full extent."

"Are you challenging me?" Grunt grinned slightly at the prospect of a fight.

"In a way yes. I want to spar with you Grunt, no weapons, no armor, no killing. We will fight with our fists and stop once the other is floored for longer than 10 seconds."

"Hmmm, agreed. Where shall we fight?"

"Cargo bay. I'll set up an arena."

Grunt pounds his fists together "I like the idea. Shame we cant kill each other"

"Yeah, shame." I wave to Grunt as I leave the room and am surprised by Jack appearing outside the door.

"What the fuck did you do?"

"I augmented my body. Made it faster, stronger, more deadly."

"Uh huh. Why?"

"So I could go from lethal to super-lethal. Like you guys are."

"Did you add some idiot drugs in your changes? Cause I'm pretty sure you just challenged a Krogan, you idiot kid."

"I'm not an idiot nor am I a kid."

"So sure? I heard from Zaeed what you did when you guys first saw me"

…goddamnit Zaeed. "So?"

"You're a cherry aren't you?" Jack smiles at this, chuckling slightly. "Oh that is priceless, trying to impress Shepard or something with your new muscles kid?"

"About as much as I am for you Jack. I thought you'd love my newer better self but it seems I must be heartbroken." I retorted sarcastically. Jack frowns as I smile at her slightly angry face.

"I'm gonna enjoy watching Grunt kick you around"

"You can hope at least Jack. It ain't gonna happen though." I walk past Jack and go down the elevator. 10 minutes later, the stage is set, Grunt and I are in a 15x20 ft box arena made of crates, and Jack is watching from her seat atop another.

"Ready to start Grunt?" I ask the krogan, his shudders of excitement more obvious without his armor. Now he's just in a tan colored underarmor skintight suit. I'm in sport shorts and a black skin shirt I borrowed from Jacob, which is convenient now that we are the same size, and body shape.

"I'm always ready to fight Delta" Grunt smiles and I see Jack do the same out of the corner of my eye. I nod at grunt and crouch in anticipation.

"Then begin." And Grunt starts off with a headfirst charge. That was not predictable at all…

I wait for him and sidestep him at what I thought was last minute. Wow, my reaction and movement speed is amazing! I was out of his way with several more inches to spare than usual, and I turned as he stopped his charge. Before he turned around fully I jumped on his back and held onto his hump with one hand, standing on his legs while I used my fist to punch his head. His plates hurt, but they were still unformed, and so my punches hurt him more than usual. He reached up to grab my arm and pulled, throwing me over his shoulder. I landed on my back and rolled to the side as he dove forward, slamming his head and torso into the ground. I stood back up and got into a boxer's stance, feet wide, planted firmly, arms and fists raised to protect the face and chest. Grunt threw a haymaker at me, which I ducked under and deflected slightly with my arm. I pushed both fists into his face, knocking him back a bit as I backed away. I dropped my arms to the side and smirked at Grunt noticing his smile had grown.

"HAHA, you're turning into a fine fighter Delta. This is a great fight!"

"Yeah, and no weapons make it last longer."

"Agreed! After this one we must spar again!"

"Alright" Jack interjects and we both look at her while she speaks "You've got the freak lizard entertained but this still seems boring. You haven't gotten hit."

"Sucks huh Jack?" I ask her smirking and turning to her "Too bad thought, because its not likely I wi-AGGHH!" I yell out and look to my side to see Grunt smiling as he tackles me nad throws me into the crates. Slightly dazed I look up to see Grunt grinning like crazy, staring down at me while Jack is leaned so far back on her crate laughing she'll probably-"!"- oh, she fell.

"Alright then" I stand up and brush myself off. "No more Mr. Nice Guy" I charge at Grunt this time, surprising him as I tackle his midsection. He skids back a bit as I push but then applies his own force to me. I smirk and slowly push at him to redirect it upwards more before dropping and launching up just as he moves over me. Before he or Jack knows, I'm lifting up Grunt above my head. The bastard weighs a shitload though, so I step to the side and slam him into the ground. He lays there dazed for a few seconds before jumping up and laughing his head off while facing me again. I throw a jab at him as he gets up, which he takes but he tries to grab my arm as it moves away. I pull back in time and swerve to avoid a punch he's thrown at me. I try to get in an uppercut, landing a couple punches to his gut and shoulder but he stops me with a right hook and a jab to my stomach. I sidestep another haymaker and lunge forward, bringing my right fist up to smash into Grunts face. He stumbled back and I followed with a side-kick that planted him on his ass. When he tried to get up I elbowed his face again and kneed his chin as he fell.

"Huh, guess it's a bit easy for you huh?"

"He's naturally slow and inflexible. It's easy to outmaneuver him but if he gets hold of someone they're screwed."

"Sucks. Try not to get caught then."

"What?" I turn to see Jack jumping over the arena boundary, her biotics lighting up around her. "Shit…" I look behind me again to see Grunt get up frowning slightly.

"What are you doing human?"

"Tag-team, what fuck do you think I'm doing dumbass?"

"Can we not double team anyone on our general ship-team?" I ask arms spread pleadingly.

"No" they both respond in unison. I sigh and back away to keep them both in sight. Grunt charges me again, as does Jack with her biotic corona focused in her right fist. I sidestep Grunt once again, noticing he's moving faster. I then basically deflect Jack's punch and leapfrog over her, turning again to face the two, ducking a punch thrown by Grunt. I lean back from Jack's boot as she tries to kick me and turn my body to dodge a hook Grunt aimed at my side. I arch my back to job another biotic punch by Jack and flip back form the tow of them, lashing out with my feet as I do so. I stand again and take a martial arts stance, my legs spread, body turned to the side, fist and arm up in front of my face and my other positioned at my waist. Jack and Grunt try to punch me together but I use both arms to deflect their blows past me and lash out with my leg to kick Grunt's out from under him. I step to the side as he falls, grabbing hold of Jacks arm with my right hand, pulling her to me. I move behind her, grabbing her left arm with mine and wrapping it around her chest. I move my right leg over her left and push back on it, stepping in between her legs. I finish with pulling her right arm behind me and holding it there as her head turns to me with a slightly insane but delighted snarl.

I smirk. "What, you want a kiss or something?" I grin as her face becomes slightly enraged, laughing as she struggles against me.

"Why the fuck would I want to kiss you?" She snarled. I saw Grunt getting up and decided to end the break.

"Dunno, but the feelings mutual anyhow." I push Jack away from me and she stumbles slightly as she activates her biotics to make herself heavier. What she doesn't notice as she turns to me is that Grunt is right under her and they both fall as soon as they touch each other, Grunt weighed down by Jacks now very heavy self. I laugh and don't let up until Jacks biotics start to fizzle out, but by then the 10 second limit is almost reached. Grunt throws her off him as soon as she's lighter and sits up as my laughter dies down.

"Hey Grunt, ten seconds are up. That means I win." I smirk at Grunt and he growls angrily turning to Jack.

"The next time I go into a fight, it will either be alone or with Delta, human woman."

"My names Jack you Dumbass overgrown fucking lizard. You'd better remember it or else I'm gonna kick your ass off this damn ship!"

I chuckle and look up at the engineering deck on a hunch, mildly surprised to see Shepard and Miranda there, along with Kasumi, watching the fight. Miranda moves away from the window after I look up but Shepard stays there, watching me look at her and Grunt and Jack bicker in the background. Wow, those two sound like an old married couple. I glare back at them but it remains unnoticed as the two of them continue arguing and threatening each other. After a few seconds I sigh and go to the elevator, riding up to the crew deck and stepping into the bathroom for a quick shower. When I get out I have my shorts on and a towel around my neck as I walk over to the elevator. Miranda steps inside with me as the doors close and turns to look at me.

"Delta."

"Miranda"

"What was the purpose of fighting those two?"

"To see the extent of the augmentations." Miranda raises an eyebrow at that, but turns back towards the elevator doors before speaking more.

"And your current state of dress?"

"Well, I did just fight Grunt and Jack in hand to hand combat. That tends to leave someone sweaty, and I don't like the stench staying longer than it should."

Miranda nodded slightly. "The commander has set a course for Illium. We are going to recruit a couple more people before we head out to the far rim for a planet called Haestrom."

So we're going for Thane and Samara before we head to Tali. Sweet. I nod at Miranda and the doors open on the CIC. I step out and head to the armory, noticing how several of the women working there were ogling my chest and back. I smirked as I entered the armory but didn't see the crew freeze as Miranda apparently gave them some stare meaning 'get back to work'. In the armory I replace my current sportswear with the casual Cerberus crew outfit, a black shirt and white cargo pants. I frowned at the Cerberus logo, Jacob chuckled when he saw me do so, and walked to my cot to open my omni tool. I was almost a Spartan. I had the augmentations, and now I needed the training and armor. Sure I could shoot a gun but these guns were just a little heavier than my Nerf guns back home, what with the mass effect field generators making them so light. The recoil was less than a gun that fires actual bullets too, but I still needed the true training of a Spartan to become one. I could wear the armor now, since my body could handle the enhancing synthetic musculature that is part of the Mjolnir and SPI armor used by most Spartan III's without hurting myself severely. The armor might be able to be made but I doubt Jacob and Mordin could configure it on the fly in this ship. Plus, it'd probably take a ton of titanium to make too. Either way, I sit down and make schematics and building specifics of my own Spartan armor. I sit and work on it for several hours, bickering with myself over what to have for the knee guards, chest piece, shoulder pieces and helmet. Finally I was done, and I stood up with a smile, saving the schematics and shutting down my Omni-tool just as Shepard stepped into the room.

"Delta, I want you to come with me." I nod and head to the airlock with Shepard. I see Jack, Zaeed, Grunt, Garrus and Miranda waiting there already and I raise my eyebrow in confusion. Shepard has two more than usual, what's she planning on? And Miranda looks kinda fidgety too, I wonder what she-wait, Illium, Miranda's sister! Oh crap is that why we have such a large squad? So Garrus, maybe he's going to command some people for a while.

"Commander." Miranda turns to Shepard a slight pleading look in her eye. Shepard nods at her and steps into the airlock with everyone piling in after. I put my armor on quickly, and just in time as the outer door opens and we start walking. Pretty soon the greeter woman, asari… oh fuck it, they might not technically be women but they still look too damn close not to be considered women.

"Welcome to Illium Commander Shepard." It would be hilarious if she acted like the Wal-mart greeters. The funniest ones I've seen were one on Family guy, when it was that one dude, Dick Cheney I think, who just kept saying 'go fuck yourself'. Then Jeff Dunham's puppet Walter said he was a greeter and he always said 'Welcome to Wal-mart , get your shit and get out!' That would be funny as hell, but what would she say? 'Welcome to Illium, buy something or go the fuck away.' 'Welcome to Nos Astra, please either go or make some use of yourself.' Welcome to our dock, I-"

"Thank you. Come on everyone, let's go see Liara." Oh…shit, I really have, just… got, to work on this zoning out thing. It's like a freaking repeat of math class. On a plus note, we're in Nos Astra. Time to get some upgrades for my weps. Shepard leads us to the marketplace under Liara's office and we look at the merchant stalls. Tali comments on how Quarians usually aren't welcome here for their pilgrimages, being so poor off the bat. Garrus notes that it's a safe place until you fall off the grid. Then its like falling through a skyway, not pretty… though usually more unnoticeable.

"Commander Shepard, over here." A purple asari by the news screens motions Shepard over. They exchange a few words before the Asari's eyes turn white, then Shepard listens to her speak before grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. Oh I remember, that's one of the reactions to the Asari the Rachni queen sent! So Shepard saved her huh. That's nice. Pretty soon Shepard comes back to us and tells Garrus and Tali the asari was a messenger from a friend from Noveria. I'll ask them later, at lest get some valid reason as to why I now they spared the Rachni. Other than the obvious one. Anyway we head to Liara's office and Shepard has everyone but Garrus stay back. I stand outside the door, looking at Nyxeris as it closes. The two of us regard each other and I keep a mild eye on the argument Miranda and Jack have going while Grunt just looks around bored. Miranda's very fidgety now and she seems to be losing her usual cool demeanor.

"Jack, come here for a sec." I call down to her. Jack scowls at me but comes up anyway, compelled by some unknown reason to listen to me. Now I have to think of a reason as to why I called her up… shit.

"What do **you** want?" Jack snarled.

"What are you two arguing about now?" I ask.

"Why the fuck is it any of your business?" She scoffs.

"Because if it's something trivial then I want to solve it so it doesn't end up annoying me more than it has to."

"It's not fucking trivial!" Jack points a finger into my face.

"Really now, then what is it?"

"It's about something I found in the cheerleaders Cerberus files." Oh crap, is she talking about the Teltin facility?

"What'd you find?"

"None of your damn business, that's what." Jack turns and stomps back down the stairs. I frown and look behind me as I see Shepard come out of the room with Garrus. She seemed a little sad until they came into view, at which point Garrus stopped whatever he was doing to comfort her. Shepard hid whatever it was she was feeling and walked past me while Garrus hung back a little.

"What happened in there?" I asked the veteran Turian friend.

"Liara was…different, than we remembered her. She seemed a lot colder too. I don't think Shepard expected that kind of reunion from her."

"Why not?" Garrus just looks at me in silence. "Were they lovers or something?" he jumps and his mandible flare in alarm before he glances to Shepard who suddenly became rigid.

Garrus sighs "Yeah, they were together, and just now Liara barely kissed Shepard after being gone for two years."

I frown. "Oh… well that sucks." Pretty bitchy move. I know I had a play through in which Shepard had romanced Liara in the first game, but I never saw how that worked out seeing her again in the second. So she barely kisses her? That's not loving at all. Or hot… oh goddamnit… OUT, OUT PERVY IMAGES, DAMN YOU! We walk towards Shepard, me shaking my head furiously, and see her talking to Jack while Miranda's off to the side. I walk over just as Shepard and Jack finish talking, Jack seeming more relaxed than before. Meanwhile Miranda's getting fidgety and looking at the door that leads to the lounge area.

"Alright, we have a few things to do here so I thought we'd split up to take care of two at once. Delta you're obviously capable of combat again so I'm going to be relying on your enhanced abilities to make this work."

"You can count on me Shepard. Whatever it is, I'll get it done." Just don't have any hot women talk to me for the next few minutes. excluding Miranda

"Good, because you are going to go with Miranda while the rest of us go look for the Assassin."

My eyes widen in surprise behind my visor and I look to Miranda as she stands surprised as well. It doesn't last long though.

"What! But Shepard-!"

"No butts Lawson!" except that one behind you, jiggling so good while you argue with Shepard. So firm but still looks like Jell-o and-oh dear they noticed me staring. I look back at them and shrug, completely ignoring the fact that my visor is showing my face and my eyes were obviously pointed somewhere…inappropriate. After looking at Miranda and Shepard I quickly polarize my visor as I'm assaulted with images of Liara adding in with the two for a three way. Damn you puberty, damn your invasive distracting mental tactics!

"Shepard he will not be anywhere near enough help!"

"It will be fine Miranda. He was a good fighter before and he just became better."

"But Shepard!"

"My decision is final Lawson. Either take him with you or I send him off for something else."

Miranda looks frustrated and groans before grabbing and practically dragging me to the lounge area. I quickly get set and am walking beside her as she walks through the area, ignoring my slowing down for Aethyta's Eternity Bar and instead pulling me harder as we pass the slave broker. In a few seconds we walk up to her asari contact, Lanteia.

"Ms. Lawson, its good to see you again."

"How is she?"

"She's fine so far. You authorized a man named Niket to help didn't you?"

"Yes, Niket's an old friend, he's trustworthy." I look between the two in feigned confusion. After all, Miranda only told Shepard and Shepard's decision to include me and exclude herself was only recent.

"They're in port 26 and we think your father has sent some agents to get them."

"Oh no. We'll have to hurry." Miranda turns and strides off to call a taxi. As we wait a few minutes for one to arrive, I look at Lanteia and ask "So, whats going on here?"

"If Lawson didn't want to tell you I'm not talking."

"Thank you miss, you've been very helpful. I have morals, and I won't fight unless I know what for." Even If I know why and what we're doing this, I don't know why the fuck I'm here. Yeah…

"My sister is going to be kidnapped by my father from her family. We need to make sure that doesn't happen."

"You have a sister?" I ask Miranda.

"Yes, a genetic twin. She was supposed to replace me…"

"We never discussed your origin, have we…?"

"No…" the cab arrives, "but we have a long enough ride." I follow Miranda in, sitting at the drivers seat. On the way over Miranda briefs me on all that I know, cementing it and giving me a look into her own self-esteem problem. Wonder if that can be helped faster by Shepard and I both working on it, but my wondering ceases as Miranda keeps talking. Not soon enough, I see the gunships used by the Eclipse fly alongside us. I smirk and Miranda notices the ships and finally **shuts up.** I know I asked for it but still, she talked my ear off… even after I got to know all I needed. The cab lands soon in that cargo area by the port and we step out. We see an Eclipse captain walk over with his tech armor on, ready to go.

"You're the woman that stole our bosses little girl. Listen, if you walk away now, we won't tell him we saw you."

"I don't think so. Oriana is not going to go back to my Father." Miranda snarls at the guy.

He shakes his head and turns to me "What are you doing here with her anyway? I bet this doesn't concern you so why don't you just leave now? My boys already got their shots lined up, all I have to do is make my move and you two are done for." I look behind the guy and see about 8 other mercs hiding behind crates and such. A couple of them are asari but most of them are Salarians. I notice a crate hanging over the middle of the group, and if it were dropped, it would squash some cover and a few mercs too. I look over and see Miranda's noticed it too, and look back to the guy as he just finishes talking.

"Hold up a second man, there's something really cool behind you. Here, let me help you see it." I grabbed the guy's chin and back of the head and twisted it 180 degrees. I let go and drew the new Mattock heavy rifle we got after the Horizon mission. The single shot was annoying sometimes but it reminded me of the DMR in Halo: Reach. I got most of my kills from the DMR, melee and Sniper rifle. I smirk as I duck behind cover and pull out my Mantis, quickly scoping and sniping several mercs. After 3 salarians and two humans are dropped I see one Asari warped by Miranda's biotics, and the other shot by her SMG. I add a quick sniper round to diffuse the Asari's barrier and Miranda drops her with a few more shots. We move forward and I cloak myself just before two mercs round the corner. I sprint past them quickly, my plasma blades out and slicing through their necks. The other 2 mercs behind them are surprised and I stab one in the head before de-cloaking, shocking the last one as I kick them down and drive my blade into their heart. I looke dup and scanned ahead a bit as Miranda ran up to me. We nodded to each other and advanced, finding a few more mercs and mechs guarding the first elevator. We shot them down and called for the elevator to come down to us.

"-_Team four come in. Come in team four_-" a radio sounds out, evidently dropped intact by one of the mercs. Miranda leans down and grabs it, syncing its airwave channel with hers. I copy the movement and ignore the chatter. The elevator opens up and we step inside.

"Delta, I think I should tell you something…" Ah the child revelation thing. I was expecting that. "Oriana is my genetic twin and my father did create her to replace me but she was only a baby when I took her and left my father as a teenager. I rescued her from my father and Niket helped me escape with her, but I never told him about her."

"Why didn't you tell him about her?"

"The fewer who knew I had Oriana the better."

"Ok, so now we're guarding a what? 12 year old? 13 year old?"

"Oriana's turning 19 this year. She's almost a woman." HOT DAMN! I already knew this but hearing it from Miri's mouth is oh so much sweeter. Especially with those luscious lips of hers… thank you god and all that's holy for this armor not being able to budge from shifting body parts… "I'm very protective of her." Oh yeahhh… forgot that part. At the idea that Miranda might, no **would**, tear it off if I tried, well, doggy laid down real fast…

"Lets go help her then. We're going through the cargo processor yard right?"

"Yes, there are explosive materials here too so stay alert." I nod and we both watch the doors open. We move out into an alley made of cargo boxes and see a conveyor line. Soon after we come across some cover mercs pop up on the far side. One forgot he had no shields on and that was made apparent by my pistol shot blowing into his head. I smirked at that and ducked behind some boxes as fire rained on me. I popped up with my Mattock shooting at one merc while I had an Incinerate trained on one whose shields had been taken down by Miranda. I then snuck up to the conveyor line and activated my cloak, running to the other side while switching to my Locust SMG. Once there I saw three mercs behind cover and I shot one with a concussive blast, stunning him, stabbed another with my left energy blade and unloaded the whole clip of my Locust into the third and farthest one. After those two died I curbstomped the one who was stunned on the floor. Now that I think of it, not the best idea for regular use but thankfully his helmet kept **most **of his blood off my leg and foot… yeah Jacobs gonna be freaking out over this. Miranda takes down the last merc as she turns to me and then walks over.

"Was that really necessary?" she asks, gesturing to the result of my grotesque head stomping. I shrug at her, "I thought so."

"-_This is Enyala, keep the bitch back, Niket is nearing the transport terminal_-"

Miranda and I make our way through a corridor of cargo crates, picking up some credits and weapons upgrades on the way. We find some mechs by what looks like a check-in station and locker area for dockworkers. We push forwards, finding another cargo conveyor rail and seeking cover as even more mercs pour out to shoot us. I watch a few and snipe some explosive tanks by a small group of them, chuckling as they blow up. When the blast fades I see they're all dead and watch a flaming leg fall down beside some other mercs. One of them is a woman, a new one apparently, as she screams, falls, and scrambles away from the severed, burning limb. I shoot her companion who turned to yell at her and move up to take position where they were as the girl runs away to hide. I shoot the mercs coming out of one carton and incinerate an asari that tried to warp Miranda. She seems to be afraid of fire on herself and I saw a few more come out to cover her. I shot them down quickly, letting the first one burn to death. Miranda and I picked up any thermal clips we needed as the fighting stopped and I ran around quickly to get the upgrades that Miranda would miss in her urgency. Once I had everything stored or data secured we went on to the alley of canisters, and I shot the two mercs that came out to fight us with my shotgun.

"_-Divert everyone except my guard from Niket. I'll handle him and the kid personally-_" that was Enyala again. I wonder, does every Asari name have an 'a' in it? Enyala, Liara, Samara, Benezia, they all have 'a's! Wait, councilor Tevos doesn't… or is she Velarn? Shit, why can't I remember that at this time, I'm experiencing a mental conundrum! This must be solved, my curiosity **will **be sated!

"Damnit, I'm not letting her get Oriana" oh, right Oriana. Curiosity, you will be shelved for now sadly. My shields start to drop and I look up, recognizing mercs ad some mechs shooting at us. My gun is up and firing at them, me scoring headshots galore. Oh its great having such enhanced eyesight, I can see so much farther and clearer now, my accuracy is so greatly improved. I run up to a rail for cover and throw a haymaker into the guy standing in front of it. He falls back, flipping over the side of the rail as I duck behind it. Hell yeah bitch, you just got mollywhopped! We continue fighting through the mercs and I just get plain tired of doing this so much. I rush through blowing up everything I can, incinerating the leftovers and throwing in a concussive blast or two. I then stalk through the remains and notice a pair of fleeing feet. I ignore it and turn to Miranda as she catches up to me.

"Shepard was right apparently. You are a great help." I nod in response and we find the elevator that leads to where Niket and Enyala are. I quickly scan the room's occupants and pull out my Mantis before striding forward. I snipe one guy at the back and Miranda guns down a merc at the front. She shoots the guy behind him while I squeeze off two shots that take down a regular grunt and the shields of the legionnaire in the back. Pretty soon the elevator door opens and 2 engineers, a grunt and a rocketeer step out. I snipe the grunt and one engineer and Miranda shoots the other engineer, but doesn't manage to kill him before he unleashes his combat drone. I put away my sniper and reach fro my shotgun but the drone hits me with an electric charge, short-circuiting my shield system. Miranda destroys it but the damage is done and the rocketeer decided to be smart and fired at me. The rocket impacted against my armor and exploded with enough force to shatter bone. I flew back and landed hard, grunting slightly in a daze while Miranda gunned him down. I groaned as I slowly sat up, medi-gel assaulting my wounds in its magical healing manner. I look to Miranda and grab her hand as she offers it, only slightly using it to pull myself up.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"I'll be fine, but I'll be damn tired after this." Miranda nods and walks over to the elevator.

"_-Niket has reached the terminal. He'll switch the family over to our transport.-_"

"NIket? Bu-But that can't be right!" …Sorry Miranda.

"It can be a few things… but it sounds like only one right now." We get into the elevator as Miranda talks and I activate it.

"No, maybe the captain knows we're listening in and she's feeding misinformation about Niket making a switch. Or maybe it means something else. Niket wouldn't do that." Now her strained composure breaks a little as she activates her Omni-tool and Overloads the elevator controls, "Dammit, why won't this thing go any faster!"

"Congrats you've made it go faster by a couple feet per second. It could be all of the above still Miranda but I don't think so. You never told him about Oriana, so that's always some way to get him to betray you. His loyalty is to you after all, not your sister. And you never told him about her or of how protective you are of her."

"No, he could have turned on me when I ran away. He's the only person from my father's life that I kept in contact with. I'm sure he tried to buy him off before."

"You're missing the point though, there are many ways to convince someone ot do something unusual for them, money is just the most common one but it is not, by far, the only method. Maybe your father told him about Oriana and appealed to his morals and doubts instead of his pockets since you seem to guard yourself effectively against people susceptible to that kind of persuasion."

"Niket wouldn't betray me… We'll be at the transport shuttle soon anyway, we can clear it all up there."

I nod and watch the icon of the elevator reach our intended floor. Soon it stops and I face the door waiting to step out. Through the closed doors of the elevator I can hear a part of a conversation very mutedly.

"-I get paid regardless of how the girl gets there Niket."

"No! I was told that I could handle this my way. We are not traumatizing the family any more than we-" The elevator doors open with a ding and Miranda and I step out. She stands and glares at Niket and Enyala while I, uh… strike a pose with my fists on my hips. Miranda turns her glare on me for acting so silly even now and I just laugh a bit as I let my hands fall.

Niket leans forward a bit with narrowed eyes before leaning back in surprise and muttering "Miri." Enyala jumps off her cargo box and draws her shotgun saying, "This should be fun" I draw my pistol and crouch as I see the Asari worker standing next to them glance between us all, cringing at Enyala as she draws her weapon and outright terrified as Miri-Miranda and I draw ours. I see her give her last glance at all of us and turn and I break out running for her as she runs away. Enyala turns calmly and tries to shoot her but I manage to tackle the asari woman before the shot is fired. I crouch as we land covering her body with mine, before rolling her off me, and standing up to block Enyala's second shot if she tries it. I point my pistol at her as we both listen to Niket and Miranda begin their conversation, moving slowly towards Enyala.

"NIket. You sold me out. Why? You were my friend! You helped me get away from my father!"

"Yes. Because you wanted to leave, that was your choice. But if I'd known you'd stolen a baby-"

"I didn't steal her, I rescued her!" Miranda responded forcefully" Shit, she tries to kill Niket first, what do I do to stop it?...damn.

"From a life of wealth and happiness? You weren't saving her! You were getting back at your Father!"

"How'd Miranda's father convince you to help?"

"They told me that you kidnapped your baby sister all those years ago. They said I could help return her, no trauma to the family. I told them that you wouldn't do something like that, that they could go to hell! Then you told me what you'd done. I called them back that night."

I turn to Miranda and look at her pointedly as she shakes her head slightly in sadness saying, "Why didn't you call **me **Niket? We've been through a lot. You could've at least let me explain!"

"Gotta say, that's your bad dude." I comment.

"I deserved to know that you'd stolen your sister Miri! I deserved to know that you were working with Cerberus! But I still had to hear it from your father first…"

"So he knows about Oriana too right? Then moving her wont work…" I say.

"Miranda's father has no information about Oriana. I knew you had spy programs in your Fathers system Miri, so I kept it private. I'm the only one who knows…" Miranda lowered her gun as he said this.

"Which means that you're the only loose end. This isn't how I wanted it to end Niket. I'm going to miss you…" Miranda raises her gun and aims it at Niket. Just before she pulls the trigger, NIket is blown to the side by a concussive shot, Miranda's shot missing him.

"Miranda, no! You'd to regret it." I run over to Niket and check him over for injuries. A few broken ribs but better than being dead I suppose… "Maybe he could help from inside, keep your father off Oriana's trail." I say, propping the man up to look at Miranda.

"Yeah, yeah." He groans in pain. "I could help you like that. Keep him away, and stop him when he gets close. I could say that we missed her here, and she's gone."

Miranda looks at us as she considers this. Oh this is perfect, my concussive shot pushed Niket out of the path of Miranda's bullet and out of range of Enyala's shotgun looks like he'll live through this day. "Fine… but I never want to see your face again Niket." Niket nods quickly and I look back at I'm to see his face contort in pain and agony as he splits down the middle a noticeable amount and I see blood gush from the side of his head. I drop him in shock and look at Enyala.

"There, now you'll never see him again. Can we get this over with?" That bitch, she just built up a warp field and focused it on Niket's head! Now his brain and the top of his spine is split down the middle and shifted a few inches…

Miranda lifts up Enyala a very bright blue corona covering the two of them. "You'll die for that, Bitch!" She throws Enyala back so hard I hear her smack against the cargo container in the back of the room. Enyala's guard pour into the room and start firing on us as we duck into cover. I go along the left side of the room and Miranda goes to the right, and we make our way across. While its slow moving on each side any mercs who try to flank us through the middle are quickly killed by our crossfire. Enyala decides to come for me and as she gets close I grab her shotgun and flip her onto her back, behind my cover. I rip the shotgun out of her hands and smack her head with it, unleashing one of my plasmas blades and driving it into her neck. As she dies I smirk into her face and stand up, my Mattock roaring to life and sending mercs to their death. After a few minutes, the fighting done and we both stand up, looking around and finishing the wounded. I grab the locket belonging to that one asari woman who gives you credits for it.

Miranda and I step into the elevator and I activate it once again as she slams her hand into the wall.

"Dammit! Why didn't you let me kill him! I could've done it but watching that Asari bitch do it."

'I didn't let you because you care, apparently. Besides he's been avenged you know that, whereas if you did it you'd be left with grief over his death and guilt at being his killer. That doesn't sound better than just grief over his death and satisfaction at his vengeance to me." seriously…

"It was always like this. Everything my father gave there was always a hook. An angle for his long term plan. When I ran I threw away everything he gave me. Except Niket. Weakness on my part."

"Niket helped you run away from your Father. You kept a true friend and that's not a weakness. Your weakness was not Niket himself but your reluctance to trust him fully. If you did, all this would have been solved years ago like it was today. With you free, your sister safe, or soon to be, and your father clueless."

Miranda looked down as I said this, taking in the words. "He's gone now though. It's sad but its life. At the very least his last desire was to help keep your sister safe. So we should go fulfill that one don't you think? You still have her after all."

"Yes, you're right. I still have something. Thank you, Delta." We both remain silent as the elevator continues up. Pretty soon it opens on the transit floor and we get out. I move around as stealthily as possible searching for more of the Eclipse Agents, as does Miranda. After seeing none and finishing my sweep I stand by the elevator that will take us down to the taxi station. Miranda walks over to me.

"No sign of Eclips. Looks like we're clear." Miranda looks over the floor of the station watching a family of three. I follow her gaze and see a slightly aged couple and a young, dark haired woman. Mini-Miri! Hah, I'm so going to use that one in person if we meet face to face. "There she is. She's safe. With her family." Miranda's eyes start to tear up. "We should go."

I turn to her with a look screaming 'the hell you will' "Oh-ho-ho-ho-hooo no. You are going to go and talk to your sister right nao."

"I can't. Even if I want to it's not the best for her, and that's all I want for her. The best."

"The 'best' for her would be knowing that she has an older sister willing to fight through several floors of armored, greedy, mercenaries to make sure that she was safe. She doesn't need to know the specifics of anything. Just saying hi and letting her know you're watching and that you care will be enough from a sibling." I just wish I could for mine.

Miranda's eyes really start to tear up now as she looks at Oriana. "Maybe I should just go talk to her then. Just to say hi." I nudge her on the back towards her and Miranda walks over I see the two greet each other first off and Oriana's parents seem slightly perturbed at Miranda's inclusion and revelations. I smile at the interaction between the siblings as they chat idly a few minutes later. I'm reminded of my family, and my own little brothers back home… I wish I knew what they were doing now… I can't let it get to me though, I will return home one way or another and I'll make up for lost time with them. I just can't let them drift in now. Rooming with Jacob reminds me too much of bunking with my lil' bro for me to forget any of them, but dwelling on any of those negative feelings is going to make it harder for me to get back and lose them. I see Miranda walk back over to me, smiling brightly as her eyes tear up again. We both step into the elevator and I see Miranda and Oriana wave to each other. Before the door closes Oriana's gaze shifts to me and the elevator cuts off any further contact.

* * *

><p>Minutes later Miranda and I are sitting at the Eternity bar, drinking glasses of Asari wine.<p>

"Thanks again for your help Delta. I couldn't have done it without you."

"Maybe but you still would've given them all kinds of hell by yourself. Enyala probably would've been the only one that would've been a problem." I finish my glass and pay the tab, waving goodbye to Aethyta. Another Asari name with an 'a' I must find out if that's the most common letter in their naming customs or not.

"Aethyta!"

"What can I do for ya kid?"

I deadpan "Stop calling me kid."

"No"

"damn…" I hang my head and Aethyta chuckles, as does Miranda slightly. I lift my head up again and look at Aethyta. "When translated, is the English vowel 'a' present in every asari name, or is it the most common vowel in Asari naming culture?"

Aethyta' slightly surprised. "It's just eh most common, by a very large amount. Practically every asari has an 'a' somewhere in their name. why do you ask?"

"It's a question that's been bugging me for the past few hours. I just couldn't get it out of my head. Thanks" I wave goodbye to her again and walk back over to Miranda we walk into the corridor together before she grabs me and gives me a very tight hug.

"Thanks so much for helping me with my Sister and Niket Delta."

"You're welcome." I respond returning the hug. Oh god, if I was a foot shorter this would be fucking PERFECT! Even if apparently it only lasts for a second. Miranda lets go and we continue walking along to the Normandy. Once onboard we find that Shepard is in the meeting room with Krios, our new assassin teammate.

"I don't like mercs. An Assassin is just a precise mercenary."

"It's fine Jacob. We can trust him."

"I don't know about you commander, but I'm partial to trusting someone who's only loyal to their next paycheck."

"Well get to trusting because thane's doing this job gratis."

"_No mentiras, gratis? Que pasa Shepard, fue una contesta que te ganas cuando fuiste para comprar nuevos soldados para nosotro equipo?_"

"No Delta. We don't shop for teammates and as for jokes, Jokers are enough without you compounding on them."

"…I'll get you to respond in Spanish someday. Shepard."

"Well seeing as you two are comfortable standing next to each other I'm willing to bet the mission went off well." Miranda and I both nod at Shepard. "Good, then, rest up because in a while we are going after our Justicar." Miranda nods as Jacob and I salute and we all head off to rest. I can't wait, I wonder what I can do with the Samara mission in the Eclipse headquarters.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And there we are. Another chapter for you guys to read and enjoy. Here's a translation of the Spanish<strong>

"**No lie, for free? What happened Shepard, was there some contest you won when you went to buy more soldiers for our team?"**

**Delta: the funny thing is I knew that. I must be able to speak Spanish fluently :D**

**Me: No shit, really? Well, anyway as for the people who see some Miranda/Delta stuff here. You do. It's there.**

**Delta: She likes me now? The fuck do I do now?**

**Me: I don't know, work it out yourself man. Make a decision who you're going to get, if anyone. I have finished this at 1:30 in the morning so I am gonna do a quick edit and load it up.**

**Delta: We'll get started on the next chapter as soon as we get some good sleep and a decent haircut.**

**Me: yeah yeah yeah, Peace out everybody!**

* * *

><p><strong>Me: (punching forehead) Oh god whyy...<strong>

**Delta: Get over it you made a little mistake.**

**Me: I made a bigger plot hole than a goddamn deus ex machina!**

**Delta: ...You know there's some irony in that statement.**

**Me: (mopey) Like I care... Peace out everybody, until next chapter...**


	9. A Change in Methods?

**Me: Ok I know I've been gone for a long time and there's not much I can say about it. Writer's block hit me and when it did, was like hitting the emergency brakes on a train going 90 just before a sharp turn. Off a cliff. Into a nuclear reactor. Basically, big fuckin wreck. I can mostly attribute it to my xbox PMSing on me and not reading ANY of my disks…. So whole library of 360 games? Useless now… ****sighs**** So, here's me trying to get started again, it'll be a bit difficult and hopefully the flow will get back to normal so I don't update once in I-don't-even-know-how-long. As further apology, Delta and I would like to present you with a potato ****points behind him at an empty space.**

…**Where's the potato?**

**Disclaimer: Zero612 does not own Mass Effect 2 or Halo, both video games and their universes were created and made awesome by the people at Bioware and Bungie respectively.**

* * *

><p><span>A Change in Method?<span>

_Alright… so we have Garrus, Jack, Grunt, Zaeed, Kasumi, Miranda, Jacob, Mordin, and Thane. Tali, Samara, and Legion are the last ones we need to get and Miranda's loyalty has been earned thanks to yours truly. We're still on Illium so Samara has got to get got next and then we're off for Tali. _I thought while walking to my room in my under-armor bodysuit. _On top of that better armor is what I need. I need to find someone who can make my armor from the schematics I wrote…_

"Delta, Shepard ahs requested your presence in the cockpit" EDI suddenly popped up beside me at one of her access terminals. I looked at her and nodded before heading to the elevator and preparing for a slow ride back up to the CIC deck. Once there I stepped out and gave a small wave to Kelly and the crew while walking to the cockpit and adjoining airlock. There I saw Shepard with Garrus, Thane and Jack. I greeted them all then leaned against the airlock with my arms folded.

"So, whats today's schedule look like?" I ask.

"Shopping for upgrades and new equipment with credits from the last mission, tracking down who we want, fighting a whole mass of hostiles to get to them, and then fighting even more to make sure they actually come along with us. You know, the usual stuff." Garrus replies.

"And that's just how I like it, with a lot of things to kill." Jack adds with a hopeful and sadistic smirk.

I looked at Jack and made a silent prayer to God that she and Grunt never get together. As a couple, long term friends, anything unless they're fighting to the death. Unless they both learn to curb their killing impulses but seriously, how likely is that? "Well, sounds like fun." Let's see… Vindicator, Viper and Eviscerator shotgun with a phalanx heavy pistol. Ok, I'm good to go.

"Delta, your sniper rifle looks…odd" Damnit, Garrus would notice it wouldn't he…

"Really? Why do you say that?" I merely raise an eyebrow and try to play it cool.

"The frame around the firing mechanism looks different… like it was changed to accommodate something."

"Oh… well I might've juryrigged it a bit… in my spare time."

"How so?" And now Thane's interested.

"I added the Mantis' firing mechanism for more stopping power. Viper has capacity, Mantis has power, why not combine em, you know? I still need to try it out, work out the bugs, as it were" Hehe, bugs… with a Mantis rifle and Viper rifle hybrid.

"If it works please tell me, I'd love to have that upgrade." Garrus states with a nod of some approval.

"As would I" Thane looks like he wants the toy for himself too. Well too bad its MY toy! My toy…

"Well seeing as we're done here and everyone's geared up, Let's move out. We have an Asari Justicar to find." Woohoo! Samara recruitment!

~Out of the airlock and through the terminal, to Samara's place we go!~First a stop at Li-a-ra's to get us in the knowww~Over the bridge and by some taxi's we fly to the right zone~Ignore the guilty, traitorous volus who stinks like a sowww~Now we just find Anaya and go say "hiya" Before we head on out~And then before the day's all done we'll have Samara and maybe Gardenr's fried trout-

"SHUT THE FUCK UP DELTA!" I jump away from Jack who was standing beside me and had a very dangerous looking corona of biotic power coming off her. "YOU'VE BEEN MUTTERING THAT SAMEFUCKING SONG AND ITS DAMN CHANGES FOR THE PAST 10 MINUTES! SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!"

I just shrink down a bit and step away closer to Garrus, keeping my mouth shut until Jack calms down. Until we find some Eclipse mercs to fight, I am not touching that powder keg even with a 20-yard pole…

So we go into Anaya's office, get the rundown of the situation however I barely paid any attention as I was trying to stay out of Jack's line of sight. That was made much easier when I remember I had a tactical cloak… dummkopf.

After that we go off to find Samara before Anaya does. Thankfully, we got a headstart, and a few doors might've decided to lock themselves behind us. I'm not saying anything more about that. I stick close to Garrus at the back with my modified Viper out and watch Jack take the lead with Shepard. Once the girl blows some steam then I think I'll be in the "can talk and still get away with minor-mid level injuries" zone. That's kinda funny because even I don't know where exactly that zone sits. Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained. Moving on, we come down a hallway and up a few steps before catching sight of some Eclipse Mercs. I immediately spot one Asari with Tech armor, 3 LOKI mechs and a helmeted human. Jack uses a Pull on her nearest target while charging forward, her shotgun lighting up the human. Garrus fires and downs a mech as does Thane, both shooting at the same time towards the last one, blowing its head clean off. It lands by the asari and soon blows, stunning her while I use my rifle to knock the rest of her tech armor off and Shepard moves in with her Tempest SMG to finish her off.

After confirming the kills and moving on we come to a room with a green lit door. Shepard taps it open and right when we step in some poor Asari's screams ring out and she hits the corner of the wall right by us, the snap and crackle sounding out in her impact as it breaks her spine.

"Well that's one way to say hi…"

In a room with glass walls just above the floor where we stand there's another Asari in Eclipse armor glaring and backing off from an elegant and graceful Asari who's back is to us, dressed in a red, black and gold outfit with some armor plating. I can see their lips moving but can't tell what they're saying, though, I already know. The Eclipse girl points her gun at Samara and is thrown back through the glass. Samara follows, glowing blue and doing a half-swan dive, which gets an 8 for style and flair. She saunters over to the other Asari even as she backs away and steps on her neck. After some words are exchanged another snap is heard. Samara turns and looks at us while walking over to us, gesturing at the dead Eclipse soldiers.

"My name is Samara, a servant of the Justicar Code. My quarrel is with these Eclipse sisters, but I see 5 well-armed people before me. Are we friend? Or foe?

"We're friends. I'm going up against suicidal odds on a mission and I need the best – that's you." Shepard replies.

"I sense the truth in what you say, and it humbles me. But I seek and incredibly dangerous fugitive." Samara steps away and paces as she speaks. "I cornered her here, but the Eclipse sisters smuggled her off-world. I must find the name of the ship she left on before the trail goes cold."

During this time I got sidetracked by several things. First was a chit for 5,000 credits on one dead merc, woot free money is always good money. Also I saw something by the window and found out it has a spectacular view out onto Illium's sunset and skyline which was accentuated by the sunset. It was mesmerizing with its oddly imbued hues of blue and green but also more neon-like colors of orange and red that seemed to come from Illium's own giant orb of flaming gas. Which brought me to distraction number three, which was the fact that I was hungry and was craving a donut. I haven't had one in so long too maybe like…9 months? And with a Krispy kreme so close to home too that should be preposterous! A good glazed donut should set me right, maybe even a cinammon roll hybrid if they have one. I wonder if they do… Oh god I hope so, maybe we can find a bakery that sells them here, it would be fantastic to have a post-mission donut. Or 2. Or 12. I think 17's my limit last I checked before I get sick… Meh, either way it'd be great, and I can finally have a donut again!

"Thank you Shepard." I look back at Shepard, Anaya and Samara to see the two Asari leave as Shepard shakes her head and motions for the team to follow. Guess the donuts will have to wait for later.

So…now we talk to Pitne For. Crap, I hate this guy. He cheated the Eclipse, abandoned his partner and then has the gall to act like he's innocent! And act badly too. Batarians and Volus' two races I doubt I'll ever get along with. Pitne's a coward too, so a little threat'd break him easy.

"Hello again Earth-clan. Did you speak to the detective?" Ah, Pitne…

"You said you didn't know anything about all this. You've got one chance to change that statement."

"What do you mean Earth-clan? I'm just-" I pop out a plasma blade and point it at him. Pitne immediately shrinks back and raises his arms defensively. "Oh dear! Please put that away! I'll be cooperative, I swear!"

"Confession time then." I say. Shepard gives me a sidelong glance of slight disapproval but doesn't say anything.

"I smuggled a chemical onto Illium that boosts biotic powers in combat. It also is toxic. I may have, um, forgotten to mention that to the Eclipse. So they are perturbed and want to kill me."

"Sounds like you're a swindler and your actions finally caught up with you." Shepard remarks with a sly smile.

"True and true. But I haven't survived as a merchant this long without being able to tell when there's a deal in the making. You want something."

"The Eclipse recently smuggled someone off-world. I need the name of the ship she left on."

"I don't know about their people smuggling operations. They must keep records in their base. I do have a passcard they issued me to bring my goods in. Well I had to return that one but I did happen to make a copy."

Shepard gives him an expecting look.

"Here, take it. But be careful- each Eclipse sister commits a murder to earn her uniform. They are all dangerous."

Shepard nods and takes it as we all walk away to the elevator that leads to the Eclipse base, prepping our weapons inside. Jack seems eager while Thane and Garrus stay calm an Shepard sighs in a bit of frustration. Soon enough the elevator stops and we step out. First thing we see are… 3 LOKI mechs, which rise up to greet/shoot us and are dropped before their VI's even fully processed what got here. We stack up at the door and I tap the adrenaline button, smiling as everything goes into slow-mo just as the door opens.

Pulling out my Viper I sight down on an Asari Vanguard and shoot her.2 body shots for the tech armor and most of the barrier then a headshot to finish her. Garrus pops out with his Vindicator and lays fire down on a neighboring asari soldier, quickly taking out her shields then sending a 3-round burst through her skull. The Drenalin surge is stopped and we step out into the room and go down a hallway with a few crates of minagen, dropping behind cover as some Asari Vanguards lay down suppressive fire. Jack took cover beside a canister of the illegal chemical and suddenly yells out with a strong couch as the canister is blown apart by one Vanguards errant Warp attack. The resulting red cloud covers Jack and her biotics flare up immediately, not fading even slightly as she suddenly gives out a gleeful yell and sends three shockwaves down the hall, blasting the Asari out of cover, against the walls, onto the ground, into the crates, into each other and then back again.

"Damn this stuff is good!" Jack exclaims.

"Don't forget it's toxic too Ja-AAAAAAACK!" Jack jerked her hand up and launched me into the air while I was talking. I hit the ceiling and seems she immediately cut off the control since I only came plummeting back down to the ground with a new concussion. Great. "ow…"

"That song was really fucking annoying"

"Jack!" Whatever Shepard was about to say next was interrupted by gunshots as more mercs came into the room and started shooting at us. I rolled behind cover and switched to my Vindicator. We exhcnaged shots with the enemy for a few minutes, Jack shockwaving a mech and an Asari off an open docking platform which allowed me to move up and distract a few Vanguards who were keeping Thane and Garrus busy long enough for the two to get a bead and down them. One asari made the unwise decision to try and take cover within arm's reach of me and I showed her how wrong it was by grabbing her arm and pulling her into me which sent my now-activated plasma blade straight into her spine through her stomach. After letting her drop we all moved up tot eh next doorway, seeing as the area was clear and continued on. Shepard picked up a Scimitar shotgun and I switched out my eviscerator for it, as did Jack. As Shepard walked to the stairs I stopped to open a door that led into a little personal office that seemed empty. Except for the front half of the Tempest SMG that was lying on the floor by the desk. This is that Elnora girl's spot… wonder if I can have some fun here. I activate my tactical cloak and creep up silently, coming up behind her and waiting quietly while my hand reaches forward to her shoulder.

"BOO!" I grab her shoulder hard and firm, even as she jumps and fumbles for her smg, which is suddenly slid away by an invisible force. I crack up laughing while fading into view. Elnora's face takes on a look of anger then surprise to resignation as she notices my pistol held up to her point blank.

"Don't shoot! I didn't shoot at you, I just pretended to because the other Eclipse Sister were watching!"

"You're in an enemy uniform. So, I'm going to kill you" Jack steps in and up with the rest of the gang.

"I'm not one of them! I'm new! I thought being Elnora the mercenary would be cool. But I didn't know what they were really like!"

"You're a new Eclipse Sister?" I ask.

"Yes! I just started as one today!" Elnora frantically replies.

"Ah." I pull the trigger a couple times and Elnora drops to the floor, paralyzed by shock and well, I shot her spine too. Think that might've had a hand in it. Anyway, Shepard and the others are looking at me in surprise while Jack seems a little ticked I just stole a kill from her. She and Grunt better not ever get together. Thankfully with Okeer dead there actually is not chance of mixing her genes with his. I hope.

"Delta, why'd you kill her like that? That's kind of unlike you to kill in such cold blood" Shepard asks.

"Not exactly Shepard. Do you remember being told about the volus they found murdered just last night? With that in mind, there's also the fact an Eclipse Sisters initiation involves cold-blooded murder and Enyala just said she's a newbie Eclipse Sister."

"Oh I see, well done Delta."

"Why thank you Detective Vakarian." I smile a little proudly. It's deflated when I see Shepard and Jack roll their eyes and walk out up the stairs, quickly followed by us. At the top of the stairs Shepard opens a door to a docking area with a pathway along the back dotted by crates that lead to the door to the next room. I follow Shepard, firing at the mechs that Jack uses pull on and Garrus pops an overload on one Human soldier who is then taken down by Thane. We drop behind cover and shoot some minagen crates to make a smokescreen/toxic cloud, which damages the Asari that were too eager to fight us. As the cloud faded I ran forward under the cloak and slid behind the furthest piece of cover, whipping out my dual plasma blades and stabbing them into the backs of the Asari firing at my team. As the last two soldiers turned to focus on me they got blindsided by Shepard and the others. Jack and I take point through the nearby doors, killing two hiding Asari with a few shotgun blasts each that sent them stumbling moreso than fighting back.

Moving through a room of little importance we came across another flight of stairs and went on up, reaching the top level of a docking bay and getting on the main pathway to fight through. I switched to my Vindicator once more, as did Garrus and we took turns wearing down the shields of one Vanguard until a rocket blew into my cover. I stumbled back as it hit the top part of my cover and gave me quite a bit of splashback, which took out half of my shields and the rest were being drained by a couple mechs and a Vanguard. Jack punched one of the mechs into the other with a loud cackle and then shotgunned them until they stopped moving. The vanguard was taken down by a joint effort from Garrus and Thane, which gave me a second reprieve to find new, taller cover crates.

"I could really use a donut after this mission… " I say as I pop out and score a headshot on a trooper. We go up some stairs to a large open dock, which contains 6 mechs, 7 troopers, and 3 vanguards along with a docked gunship. As we step into the room, immediately combining fire to take down one vanguard the gunship pulls off and flies away, leaving the infantry to deal with us. I move to the left, using my Vindicator and phalanx to clear the area as Shepard and Garrus set up with their sniper rifles and start scoring headshots on the others. I use a three-round burst to bust open the head of a mech and then smile as Jack uses a short pull to help it get some last-minute quality time in with its Eclipse buddies before it goe-Boom!- ooh, that's messy…

Well… at least it died happy. The troopers I'm not so sure. That guy seems really mad. Oh he's still alive.

"Hello." For a good 2 seconds. Nice not knowing ya man. Have fun with Jack.

"Team, on me." Shepard is currently at the exit door so Jack and I hurry over once she's done and follow her into an incandescent blue room that seems to be a living quarters entrance. Hey an audio diary.

"_Well, it's official. Little baby Elnora is finally a full-fledged Eclipse merc! I earned my uniform last night when I killed that ridiculous volus. Up close exploding rounds. Blew the little bastard's suit wide open! Hah! I can't wait to see some real action. Next time I go home, my friends are going to be so jealous!_" There we get a view of Enyala's murderous sadist side. Kinda like Minatsuki. That was one fucked up deadman-bitch….

"It seems killing her was a good judgement" Thane remarks, glancing at me.

"Still would've preferred it to be me who killed her" Typical Jack. Can't live with her, would definitely have a higher general chance of survival without her.

"Right… Hey look! Things to kill!" I point ahead at some more Eclipse mercs at the doorway to yet another docking bay.

"Hello dead people!" Jack says with glee and a spring in her step as she runs forward and Pulls the mercs into the air before unleashing the fiery fury of her shotgun.

"Ah, look at her Shepard. Doesn't she seem so happy, and at peace and carefree while destroying the bodies of people who try to kill us? What kind of a life has scared her to find happiness in that?"

"Do you really want to broach that subject Delta?"

"Quite honestly, not even with a stick 2 km long. I'm empathetic and nice and all, but I get the feeling that's at a level I can't even reach." Jack finishes killing the troopers and the few mechs that were brought along for the death ride just as we finish our conversation and walk up to meet with her on the pathway. Shepard goes off to grab a couple tech upgrades, resources and equipment scattered around the area while I stare off into the sunset. And down at the loooooong fall from the edge of the dock.

"Pretty steep drop eh Specialist?" Garrus says as he steps up beside me, looking through the scope of his rifle down.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of heights now Vakarian." I answer with a smirk.

"Are you kidding me? Heights are a Turian's best friend. And a sniper's. Gets you good visibility for miles with a good enough scope."

I nod then frown as I hear a sound, the sound of a certain kind of thruster engine. The ones that are found either on the UH-14 Falcons in Halo, or a- "Gunship!" I yell, backing away as the Gunship flies up right in front of us. Garrus and I backtrack, raising our weapons at it and firing as it backs away for more space, rotating turret locking onto Thane who was also nearby as two missiles click into place on its wing. I tackle Garrus to the side behind a fragile crate, one missile hitting our previous standpoint while the other destroys the crate. Garrus recovers quickly and guides us into a diveroll behind a pillar as Thane runs and jumps around a bit, demonstrating some impressive ability while the gunships turret tries to get a lock on him, firing all the time and chipping the floor around him but rarely even hitting his shields. After a few seconds the Drell drops into cover behind a thick crate and Shepard joins him. We all quickly switch to incendiary ammo and top off our guns before popping out and opening fire on the Gunship's cockpit. We chip and burn away the armor rather quickly, only taking a minute or so and breaking through to shoot the inner controls of the ship just as it starts its first pass over us. With the loss of controls it turns into a pass under us and into the side of the building, emphasized by the resulting explosion.

With that out of the way we hurry through the last door right after Shepard hacks it. We find a shipping log showing the minagen sales, along with red sand deals that Pitne For made with the Eclipse. Shepard stores it away while I access a nearby terminal that transfers 6,000 credits to our accounts. We then keep on walking through another door and down the white hallway that is just before Wasea's office, cargo bay area.

We stop as the volus, Niftu Cal, who seems pretty drunk or high or…something starts claiming he's a biotic god, we're lesser creatures and he's pure biotics made flesh.

"You need help." Is Shepard's only response to that.

"You need help! You stand before the mightiest biotic ever. Yes, the Asari injecting so many drugs into me was terrifying. But then I began to smell my greatness. They may laugh when I fall over, but they don't know what I know in my head - that I know that I am amazingly powerful. Fear me!" Don't do the gesture to me man, its hard enough holding in the laugh as it is.

"Alright, can we please just go take care of the Eclipse captain? I want to be done with this." I ask Shepard.

"Yes. The Captain of the Eclipse is in the next room. I shall toss Wasea about like a rag doll!" Interjects Niftu.

"Fifteen creds says the little guy doesn't make it five steps before the merc explodes him" If Shepard lets him, I'm taking her up on that bet, little dude takes 6 steps every time.

"I will tear her apart! My biotics are unstoppable!"

"Maybe you should lie down a nap then toss Wasea around."

"No! I will not delay any longer" Shepard hits the back of his suit and it does something. First he falls over then gets back up, noticeably tired and such. I just shrug and ignore him shuffling past me while I walk up to the door and draw my Vindicator. We all go through and start walking towards Wasea while she's drinking something and looking at a datapad.

"Everything's gone to hell ever since we smuggled that filthy creature off-world. First a Justicar shows up, now you. At least I can take pleasure in turning your head into a pulpy mass." Wasea biotically tosses a canister of minagen at us which we all sidestep.

Wasea stands by cover, shooting at us while a few Eclipse troopers come into the room and join the firefight. I lift a couple of the canisters and chuck them hard at the two entrance doors, covering them in the toxic gas. Back by Shepard and the others their shields are going down by Trooper fire and soon I have to duck down as well. More troops come in from the doors as the toxic clouds slowly fade, providing Wasea with a good amount of troops to keep us behind cover. I try to toss a canister over at them like a grenade but it's blown apart halfway there. Everyone starts taking potshots but stays stuck as the troopers use their numbers to allow each of their members a break from the fighting if their shields start getting low. Wasea's armor has barely been scratched and her biotic shield is back up to full again. Jack sends out an irate, anger-powered shockwave at the group which blows some of them out of cover. Garrus Thane and Shepard take the opportunity to focus fire and take down a few troopers while I use my adrenalin surge to attack Wasea. Once she drops back down to recharge her barrier I activate my tactical cloak and move around for a canister of minagen. Once I've found one I sneak as close to the entrenched Eclipse troopers as I can and launch it at them, thankfully getting it in a good position before it's blown apart by their desperate preventive fire. The biotics get a boost in power but the non biotics stagger and cough, which distracts the ones nearest to me logn enough for me to jump and double knife them with my plasma blades. I continue, driving my blades into several other mercs nearby until the Vanguards turn their attention to me. I drop behind cover and fire wildly while Shepard and the others take them down. After that I resume firing at the other troopers until Wasea turns her eyes on me at which point I duck and activate my cloak. I sneak away and get close to her then tackle her with my blades out and ready to be slammed into her gut. She grabs both my arms and squeezes, holding back my enhanced muscles as I strain to stab her biotics help keep her alive. My shields get peppered by enemy fire but Shepard and Garrus appear in the edge of my vision, providing cover fire.

"Pulpy mass this bitch!" Jack runs up and with a biotically enhanced glowing boot stomps down on Wasea's head through her barrier and skull, smiling wider than she has before today before resuming killing the troopers that were quickly losing their morale and starting to retreat, only for Jack and Garrus to follow and gun them down while Shepard just provided sniper support.

Meanwhile I crouched there and tried not to barf at the taste of Asari brains, blood, and head scalp, tentacle, thing. Also trying to not think of how close to unfried squid it tasted. Soon after we found ship name and headed back to the police station to finish this mission up and get Samara on our team.

Man I can't believe how long that took. I might miss Legion online… And I can't wait to see the schematics for that new VR helmet those game developers are creating that he, uh, looked at. To actually be in the game, that'd be so awesome!

…Oh the irony.

_Well, I think I'm gonna go introduce myself to our newest crewmember_. I get up and walk out of my room then head over to the starboard observation deck. Tapping the green panel the door opens before me and I step through angling my sight immediately to see Samara sitting cross-legged on the floor meditating with her biotic ball. That…looks pretty cool actually. I shake my head a bit and take a step forward.

"Hello Samara, my names Delta. Welcome to the Normandy, I look forward to working alongside you." I put on a sincere smile towards Samara who stops meditating and looks at me.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Delta. I look forward to our work as well."

I provide idle chat for a few minutes before letting her get back to meditating and returning to my room. I turn on my terminal and load up the schematics before getting a "new mail" message. I open it and read the message:

_Delta-Specialist,_

_We have written to you with news of possible assistance. When we last had runtimes inside your terminal we noticed the schematics created for your personalized armor. As a gift of gratitude and offering of peace the true geth would be willing to manufacture the armor for you. _

_We await your consensus._

_Huh… This is PERFECT! Legion and the geth can create my armor for me! Pickup is likely to be a disaster but who cares, I'll have my epic armor of epic Spartan epicosity! Yeah, it's that epic! Oh man I can't wait! The Geth are perfect for this, they have the resources, the skill, and best of all the safest network to share the schematics with! Tim'll have a hard time getting them from either me or my geth buddies. Sweet! _With That in mind I type a quick response of acceptance and expression of gratitude. And now done I lay back in my mind and let the rocking of the Normandy soothe my tired bones and muscles for a quick nap before I shower as the ship pulls away from Illium's doc- _MY DONUTS!_ I slam my face into a window and watch the Illium skyline move away at a progressively faster pace. _NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!_

* * *

><p><strong>Me: (running down the street) DELTA! GET BACK HERE WITH THE READER'S POTATO!<strong>

**Delta: (rolling down the street atop an 8-foot wide and 10-foot tall potato) Never! This will feed me French fries for several months!**

**Me: Dammit Delta that's my apology potato!**

**Delta: Write another chapter as an apology!**

**Me: (pants) Dammit… I just, hah, had to live on a freakin hill… I'm gonna try to get that potato back. And write a new chapter soon. Peace out loyal readers.**


	10. Changing Paths

**Me: Must make it better… must make it better! (frantically types and plans and…crap)**

**Delta: (eats French fries) You got a pretty good potato…**

**Me: (Glares at Delta for a second)**

**Delta: (scoots away) Right… well, here we go again. Enjoy. Thank god for scriptural immunity…**

**Disclaimer: Zero612 owns nothing. Not even his toothbrush. Mass effect and Halo belong to Bungie/Microsoft and Bioware respectively.**

* * *

><p><span>Changing Paths<span>

"Jack, I know how badly you want to go to Teltin but we can't just yet. I need to mine a few planets for resources and get some important upgrades for Mordin to work on before we go and pickup Tali. I can already tell things have gone to hell for her and her team…" Shepard walks out of the elevator on the engineering deck with Jack beside her. "I promised you we'd do it and we will. But it's not my highest priority since there are other things endangering lives right now."

Jack frowns. "Fine, I can wait until after we pick up your damn friend but only until then"

"That works just fine Jack. Now I have to get back up to the cockpit, the sooner we get these resources and g-"

"LEAVE ME ALONE YOU CRAZY FUCKIN REPTIL-AAAAHH!" yelled Delta as he runs past the two women who jump apart to avoid Grunt who barrels by as well. Delta ducks through the door into the engineering bay and is followed closely by Grunt who dive-tackles him down the stairs to where Jack normally is.

"Stand your ground Delta I want to spar!" Grunt demands, fully armored and moving off Delta and standing up now that they are in Jack's quarters.

"Fuck that, I want to live!" I retort, only in a freakin black t-shirt and white Cerberus cargo shorts. I look around and dive to the side as Grunt rushes then dash forward to a maintenance hatch. I open it and crawl through quickly before Grunt can catch me. I crawled through the shaft and kept going, moving even faster when I heard the echoes of Shepard's angry shouts. Oh crap she's calling for me, haul ass man, **haul ass!**

* * *

><p>"zzzzzzzzzzzz-snrt-mmm WTF!" Jacob's yell wakes up Kasumi who also shouts in surprise. Why? Because I was standing by their bed, replacing the cover of the maintenance tunnel I just crawled out of. Yeah, probably not the best exit to choose but in my defence-<p>

"I could've sworn this was Samara's side… oops." And with that I bid adieu, ducking as Kasumi pitches a book at me.

"Well that could've ended better… Kinda cool crawling around in the maintenances tunnels though. Eh, why not, I got time to kill" I chuckle evilly while moving to the Crew deck, looking for a maintenance tunnel to get into, finding one just behind a sleep pod. I slide in and begin my Normandy adventure.

"Glial tissues will build up too much. Can't use hyprozitamine, carboethymite compounds will become unstable in the solution. No no no, proxymite better for limbs and bones general reconstruction, not improvement."

Well Mordin's boring…

"Audio Log begin recording- Floral subject 2315 has shown results of containing aphrodysiac properties and muscle relaxants in its spores. Pollen likely also has smaller concentration of similar attributes. End recording."

….Interesting. but not very useful right now. Pranking mind, go on standby. Let's go check up on Zaeed. With that I move through the tunnels, dropping, sliding and occasionally headbutting the bulkhead. Not the smartest thing to do considering I don't have my helmet. And am not a krogan. But hell, it's dark in there! Oh wait omni-tool. Well that's a bit better, now I can see the large drop under m- crap.

"FUCKIN HELL!"

* * *

><p>Shepard raises an eyebrow while riding the elevator up to the CIC then looks at Garrus who stands beside her. His only response is a shrug as he doesn't have a clue as to what it might be. Both have a nagging feeling it's Delta-related. The kids always doing something but this would be the first time he's been out of his room on the ship for a while. EDI's already said he hasn't been in the Armory for a while now.<p>

* * *

><p>Well that hurt like a bitch…Why do I feel like singing "I've Got a Little List" from The Mikado? Oh well moving on, who was I going to spy on? …Oh yeah, Zaeed! So where's that old codger… ooh, vent duct! Let's just crawl over to here and look through to our resident cranky old guy who's gazing at a model ship while cleaning his crappy old rifle. He's not doing much besides that…<p>

"Boy do I miss this shitty old rifle. I remember that one mission on Erudon and right where shit hit the fan she came through for me beautifully. Had those two asari, that krogan and the one batarian, that traitor bastard, on my team to take down a comm. Station. Place was guarded well and we had the element of surprise but that damn traitor got those bastards assassins into camp. The krogan's the only one that put up a fight before 'e died and I was the only one left. Fuckin prick sat up in the vents of my room for a full minute before I got pissed and blew his bleedin head off!"

Whoa! Out! Abort mission, Abort mission! Full retreat! Don't look back! Get the fuck out of here!

"Nice try kid, give it a few more years of practice before you think of sneakin up on me again. Especially if I got a workin gun at the time."

Well that sucks…guess I actually have to try to stay quiet. Let's see what Samara's doing.

"DAMMIT DELTA!" Crap, Kasumi's room again. And Jacob's pissed, TACTICAL RETREAT!

"Are you trying to catch a show or something?"

"Hijo di puttana, mi cabeza…" Concussion number 127, welcome to the tally.

Ok, it was a bit of an incline but I think I'm at Samara's observation room. Now, where's the cover or vent duct, I don't see any at the mome-AH!

"Ooof!" Ok, who put that hole there?

"Hello again, Delta. Having fun with your explorations?" Samara asks, still in her meditative position though with a slight smile and inclining of the head towards where I fell and now lay on my back.

"Yeah, just a bit… Seems I'm having more fun just crawling through the tunnels than going to where they end."

Samara lets out a small chuckle and her biotic ball fades as her smile grows slightly at the same time her eyes stop glowing. "You remind me of my daughters when they were young. They too greatly enjoyed exploring anywhere they hadn't been. Especially Morinth, she was always the more adventurous of her sisters…" Samara's face starts to develop a sad look before suddenly becoming emotionless.

I blink and then get up, brushing myself off as I see Samara stiffen again. "Morinth huh? Touchy subject"

"It is a sensitive case. I apologize but I feel I am in need of more meditation."

"Sure, I'll just leave you to it." I walk out of the room and stand there as the door closes. Seems Morinths a subject she'll only speak with the commander about, if she has at all by now. Either way it'd be rude to pry, and if my antics remind her of her children so much then I'll probably be told during a future relapse. Who should I spy on now?

Wow, Miranda's room is so clean and organized. Makes me want to mess it up. Speaking of Miranda, she isn't here either. Guess she went off to talk to Tim or something… Ooh I got an idea. Let's just drop down, nnngh, like so. And now to find our materials. Oh wait, better set up a quick escape into my tunnel… there we go, now back to my project.

Well this might've taken me almost an hour, 17 revisions, 4 credit chits as balancers (contained money emptied into my other spare chits) and 39 head scratching sessions but I finally did it. I have now balanced all of Miranda's furniture on her bedroom couch. It looks pretty nice, kind of like one of the pieces of artwork I'd see at the Getty. Maybe I should splash a few cans of paint on it.

"DELTA!"

Or maybe I should run. Oh too late, she got me.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Well I'm assuming it's to hold me in place because you're angry for what seems like something I've done, but you're the one using biotics so my guess could be off."

Miranda sighs with a mix of anger and exasperation before closing her eyes and pointing at the stacked furniture. "Explain."

"I'm looking for different avenues of livelihood. I can't just be a soldier all my life, that's dangerous. I seem to have some hope in art though, don't suppress my artistic talent! Please Miranda, do it for the children! And stop turning upside down, its confusing me."

"Delta, I'm going to give you five minutes while I work to put everything back where it was. If you haven't done so by then I will alert Shepard as to what you've done."

"Do you take me for a fool? You'd tell Shepard anyway!"

"Yes but would you rather I tell her you're available for punishment or that I've already handled that?"

"…"

"That's what I thought. Now get to work." Miranda sits and lets the biotics fade away which result in me dropping on my head and shoulders. She starts typing while I put the furniture back, grumbling under my breath about working quickly and more efficiently, other ideas and something about croissants. Guess a visit to Gardner is in order, it's probably close to dinnertime and all I've had today was eggs, bacon, an apple or two and smoke. Coughed that last thing out quickly though, last time I visit the cargo bay vents while they're testing the Kodiaks engines. With a short goodbye to Miranda I set the last chair down and head for the door.

"We have a team meeting in 10 minutes in the briefing room."

"Got it." That gives me 10 minutes to do stuff. Wonder if I can get in a quick game.

"Hey Gardner, what's up?"

"Well hey there Delta. Nothing much really, just made some Cheeseburgers and-"

"Cheeseburgers? Gimme!"

Gardner laughs. "Alright, alright, hold your horses kid. They're not going to run away from ya. Here you go"

"Thanks Gard!" I start to walk off, biting into the surprisingly delicious cheeseburger. Guess Shepard got him some food supplies. I'll just go ahead and chill to my music in my roo-

"After earlier today the last thing I want to hear about you doing is going into a crewmates room and rearranging their furniture."

"Oh uh…. Hey Shepard."

"Delta"

"I put them back…"

"I got her message. What I really want to talk about is earlier with Grunt."

"Oh right… Well that wasn't even really me. He just wanted to spar very badly. He seems to be getting a bit more antsy than usual. Not sure why."

"He seemed that way to me as well. Said he was fine though."

"Huh… maybe Jack bragged to him about what she killed on the last mission and that got him pumped up."

"That's an annoying possibility. If it's causing this I need to make her stop that. I can't have a Krogan eager to fight with nothing safe to fight."

"Yeah that'd be a good idea."

"Come one Delta, We're going to the briefing room"

"But-…fine." I follow Shepard into the elevator up to the CIC deck. Once there we go through Mordin's lab to head to the briefing room. In there I already see Jacob, Mordin, and Kasumi already there, standing around the hologram of the Normandy. Jacob and Kasumi both look at me with a hint of annoyance but I'm too distracted by the odd orange glow of the hologram. Shiny... Shepard stands at the head of the table and I stay close by the door, alternating between leaning on the table or against the wall. After about 7 minutes the others start filing in, Jack takes a position at the wall opposite mine, Grunt goes over to the largest available space and watches Shepard and his temporary claimed space. Zaeed comes in with a slight swagger and smirks at me while Garrus and Than come in, talking about various sniper rifles and taking posts near the center of the table. Samara comes in and glances at everyone before stopping at an available space near Grunt but a comfortable distance from him Now all that's left is Miranda I think, wonder why she's the last to-

"I assume you want this back" Miranda says while slapping a deflated whoopie cushion in my face.

"…I honestly didn't think you'd find it so soon."

She just deadpans.

"I was surprised to find it too. Didn't even know it was in my pocket but when I found it I couldn't just leave it there."

Shepard and Miranda both sigh but the XO is the one who massages her forehead again.

"Alright enough of that. Delta, you're on weapons detail for the next two days. Now, can we begin the meeting? The meeting was called because I need everyone to pool what they know. We're all aware this is a mission with Suicidal odds into a territory yet uncharted or even able to be reported as survivable. So, I want everyone to share any upgrades you think we can use."

Jacob starts off with details on the Silaris armor and Garrus follows up with the Thanix. After that upgrade ideas start rolling in and Shepard takes note of them, filing some away for Mordin to begin working on with our current resources and setting notes on which resources to gather for the larger-scale projects. All this goes by at a steady pace, and I watch, listening to Mordin and the others as they get into more technical talk. I suddenly start to understand more of the words they use but a headache begins forming, feeling like a small burning in the middle of my skull.

"Alright, thanks everyone. Mordin will get to work immediately. Meanwhile we'll stop by a few planets to gather resources for the other projects on our way to Haestrom. Everyone okay with that?"

Everyone nods.

"I'll be making individual rounds later so if anybody has anything else important to tell me, that would be the time to do so." Everyone nods again but I notice Jacob's and Garrus' are a bit more accented. Everyone files out and I head to the Armory with a farewell wave to Jacob. I plop down on my cot and check my terminal to find nothing there. I turn it off and pull up my blanket and pillow before going to sleep.

Oh man, these cleaning fluids stink… How does Jacob go through cleaning the armory weapons every day? There's a gun for every person on this damn ship and special ones for each of the ground crew. Crap, I'm only half done too. Well I'd better start reassembling this rifle and get on to the shotguns… Actually I think I'll take a break now for some fun. I get up from the weapon bench and go to my terminal, turning on my game and joining Infiltrait0rN7 in the pre-game lobby.

"Delta-Specialist. Good to see you again." The buzz of the encryption program sounds as he speaks.

"Hello hello again G. How's it going?"

"It goes well. We have identified a few security risks and are currently working on their removal. We also bear news of your armor project. It is 75% complete and will be able to be retrieved in a short amount of time. The hardware specified was unusual and slowed down production time for research and testing necessary to familiarize our programs with it until consensus was reached on its use."

"Awesome! How good does it look?"

"We have reached consensus that the technology used in the armor is much more advanced than any race in this species is currently capable of. The plating is nearly equivalent to that of the Alliance's Mako tanks, the shielding is twice as strong and appears made to resist complete rounds rather than the chips and shavings fired from the ammo blocks. Even the artificial musculature is extremely powerful and enough to mutilate an average human's body upon use."

"Yep that's why I got the augments, they'll keep me alive inside that armor and I'll just have to take a short time to get used to using it as well. With that equipment, I doubt anything short of a reaper attack is going to kill me."

"We surmise that under the right conditions only a Colossus would be needed."

"Oh be quiet. And watch your flank, we got a small team moving in on our position."

"Acknowledged"

We kept playing for another half hour before I had to leave to get back to working on the weapons. I noticed that in that time Shepard had the ship moved a few planets away to do some more mining. When I'm done working I should check to see how far we are from Haestrom. Oh man Heastrom would be the perfect planet to do an ODST drop on! Dammit, why didn't I think of this sooner I could've made a decent drop pod for myself. I even have an idea of how the Covies made their stasis drop pods for the Elite troopers too! Dammit, such bad timing…

"Something wrong Specialist?"

"What the-! Oh, hey Shepard. No just, lamenting a good idea that'll go to waste."

"Really? And what was this idea?"

"Making a sub-orbital drop pod for myself to land on Haestrom in."

"NO! Are you crazy?"

"Oh come on, you do it in the Mako!"

"The Mako's mobile, large enough for decent armor plating, an eezo core and mass effect field generator to decrease weight for a short time, thrusters and we usually drop from just above mountain height, not just below the border of space! You want a pod to drop down in alone and that's way too inefficient for our budget, especially if it can't serve as a mobile weapon platform."

"Aw man…"

"Please tell me you have other, actually useful ideas"

"Well I fixed the bugs in my Mantis/Viper hybrid rifle. I have a couple weapons from the upload but they don't seem available for development at the moment."

"Well let me know when they can be used."

"Will do Commander. How soon until we get to Haestrom?"

"About another 9 hours or so after this next jump. We're going to be cutting off all outgoing comms in 5 though, so enjoy your game while it lasts. After you finish maintenance of course."

Sigh "Yes ma'am."

"See you Delta" Shepard leaves with a slight smirk, approached by Kelly right as she leaves the Armory. I sigh again and turn around to get back to work, donning my helmet to get into a conversation with Legion while signing offline.

"Hey Legion I have a question."

"We will answer to the best of our ability."

"Could you help me set up a method for hijacking a platform and taking it from the Heretic geth permanently?"

Legion makes a few clicks and whirrs "Elaborate"

I frown, finding a particularly stubborn piece of shrapnel from the ammo block that got lodged in the Shotgun's barrel. "I was thinking, what if you forced the programs currently occupying a mobile platform to cease operating in the platform and replace it with your own while cutting off its connection to the source. Then your allied programs would be controlling the platform instead of your enemy ones."

Legion doesn't respond for about a minute and I continue cleaning the shotguns. "We have reached consensus that it would be possible to do so if we were to provide you with a group of our program copies for the mobile platforms."

"Awesome! We'd just have to load and attach them to my omni-tools hack program, then I can just activate the hack and let them do the rest"

"We will begin writing the software immediately and download the programs into it. We will begin the upload to your omni-tool within 3 minutes."

"Much obliged G. This'll be very useful on our next mission."

"You're welcome."

Legion and I chatted for a short while longer and once the download was finished he left, saying something about fighting the Heretics before having to do a research mission. I kept working on the weapons, sighing about a thousand times in boredom throughout it. I was finally close to being finished and I noticed we were probably a half-hour away from Haestrom now. I can't wait to get Tali on the team, and it'll be even better when Legion's here too. Ok, well now we're finished with weapon's maintenance so I might as well get started on my new project. I can see why the Geth are feared for their plasma tech, the more commonly used kinetic barriers are adapted for stopping solid chips, not projectile bolts of superheated liquid. Another plus for the Spartan armor I'll soon have, its shields are useful for both types of ammunition, though it's more durable against solid ammo.

I'll use an Avenger rifle for the frame of my PR, I think I can replace the inner mechanisms with the necessary systems for making and firing the plasma bolts along with the cooling system and still get it to fold properly. Good thing I've just gotten a shitload of practice with disassembly of these rifles.

"Delta, Shepard has requested your assistance on the mission and says to get ready now. We've encountered heavy Geth activity around where Tali's team was last recorded."

I nod and get up, shelving the gutted rifle in a secure part of my bunk. Not like Jacob's going to take an in-depth look at my project but I know Tim's got eyes and ears around here and I'd at least like to obstruct any twitchy hands he might have. Once its secure I go and get my armor, realizing the thing's not going to be adorning my body for much longer. I'm a bit fond of it to be honest, its shields and armor plating has saved my ass on a couple occasions. Hurt like a bitch when that Krogan dented the chestpiece after our fall but I stuck it to the bastard anyway.

I pack up with my Phalanx, Vindicator, Scimitar and modified Viper then put on my armor. I check both my omni-tools, running them through their combat functions and glad to find the Geth hack program in my infiltrator one, my portable Geth ally ready to borrow a body at any time. As a matter of fact…

"…Can you speak to me?" I ask the programs. My omni-tool blinks as if in affirmative but does nothing else. I guess these aren't the programs capable of human speech. I look through the program a bit and see a subroutine to assimilate extra programs from captured Heretic bodies. I think about this for a second then realize it'll allow my Geth to be more efficient with each hack the more it does it. Cool, it'll be like gaining experience points and leveling up while I rack up the hacks. I chuckle at this while taking the elevator down to the cargo deck and watch the Kodiak get lowered to the floor for us to board, seeing Jacob and Kasumi there as well.

"Hey guys, you're going planetside too eh?"

"Yeah, seems so. I don't know who else Shepard's bringing along though."

"Neither do I. But it'll be good to get out and do something for a change. I've been getting a bit bored over time."

"I can't imagine either of you getting any more then just a **bit** bored. Especially since I'm taking over your next few shifts and freeing you up a lot Jacob…"

The two chuckle and roll their eyes as Shepard walks up, fully armored up and with Garrus walking beside her. He looks pretty angry but seems to be calming down after Shepard nods her head and finishes coming up to us.

"Good to see everyone's here. Are you all ready to go?"

"Yes ma'am" "You know it" "Of course commander" "Ready to go Shep!"

"Briefings on the way down, everyone get on and buckle up" With that we all jump into the Kodiak as the bay door opens and we shoot out into the atmosphere of Haestrom, speeding away to save the endangered life of a close friend and valuable ally who is in the middle of the territory of a cold, calculating and ruthless enemy.

…

…

…

…

"Is it hot in here or is it just me?"

* * *

><p><strong>Me: AND ANOTHER CHAPTER IS OUT! Hopefully better than the last one. I know the next one's going to be fun.<strong>

**Delta: Awesome (coughs loudly)**

**Me: You okay man?**

**Delta: You had me crawling through those dusty maintenance tunnels all over the damn ship! Half of my lungs are coated in the stuff! (coughs again)**

**Me: Sorry man but it was necessary.**

**Delta: How?**

**Me: They were dark, fun to navigate tunnels that stealthily led you into the various rooms of the ship! They had to be explored!**

**Delta: You sound like a child…**

**Me: One of the head voices is my 8-year old self I believe. Besides, the drops and ladders must be easier and faster than that slow ass elevator.**

**Delta: ….**

**Me: Hah, I win. So we're off to write again, Peace out everyone!**


	11. Change in Power

**Me: (lies with Delta on top of a Haestrom building with deck chairs, UV goggles and in bathing shorts) Hello all and welcome back to Delta effect.**

**Delta: (sips a lemonade pitcher through a straw) Hey everyone.**

**Me: On today's program we have Delta coming here, to beautiful sunny Haestrom, former home to the ancient Quarians, current home to Geth, 80% of the galaxies solar power and mutant sunburn. If you ever find yourself wanting a sunny vacation spot come here. Just mind the killer terminator bots.**

**Delta: This message was brought to you by; Kiaraan's Omni-sunblock: SPF 5,000,000**

**Me: Very useful but the bottles are so small. (smears the stuff all over his exposed skin)**

**Delta: Hey is there any left for me?**

**Me: No. You hoarded the French fries. Besides you'll be fine. (lightly smacks Delta's shoulder)**

**Delta: OW Sonuvabitch!**

**Disclaimer: Halo nor Mass Effect belong to Zero612. Delta is his mental and creative property whereas Halo is owned by Microsoft and Bioware controls Mass Effect.**

* * *

><p><span>Change in Power<span>

"Haestrom's a dangerous planet as it is without the geth, but they seem to be here for the same reason as Tali's team is. Haestrom's sun has progressed dangerously fast and is now pumping out massive loads of UV radiation onto the planet. Any amount of sunlight will start frying your shields, and then you so stay in cover and shade at all times or as often as physically possible. What we're going to do is try to link up with any remaining Quarian forces then move on to Tali. We'll help who we can but she's the priority here. Any questions?"

"Does anyone have any extra sunblock?" Is my first response while I look out of a window at the door. I see the courtyard where Tali is and see the Geth milling about the area along with the fighting Quarians, or the few there are. Ah there's Kal, shooting rockets out at the Geth troopers.

"I don't think any we actually might have will be enough"

"Oh well, I like the shade anyway. Shotgun's be useful if the Geth get too close trying to get some of their own."

"True" Jacob agrees, nodding and checking his own shotgun. "Nice job with the maintenance."

"Why thank you Jacob, I take pride in my work." I lean against the door and smile, still looking out the window as we move over to find a good landing space.

"Alright everyone, stay tight and keep an eye on me, we have to stay coordinated so we don't get forced out of our space. You all know how you can't give the Geth any leeway. They'll notice and take advantage of it too quickly." Everyone nods and I do while looking down. There's the place we land, time for some action and to test out PG.

"Alright everyone, touchdown in 1 minute." The pilot says. His name escapes me, what was it again it was something with a J, Jordan? Jake? Jack? Justin? Oh well, matters little anyway in 5 minutes he'll be back on the ship with cozy AC and I'll be sweaty, getting shot at, and running for my life from either killer robots of futuristic design or a murderous sun.

"Let's go people." Shepard steps out of the doors as they open, we all follow her and walk down a ramp, running between pillars providing shade.

"Black was not a good choice of color today…" Kasumi says a bit angrily. I stay quiet but smirk, which I'm sure she saw somehow and follow Shepard into what looks like a stone office building beside the orange gates blocking our path. I crouch down to inspect the Geth bodies while Shepard listens to the Quarians last message and unlocks the gate.

"Merda… These phasic rifles self-destructed. I can't salvage anything from em."

"Damn… that would've been useful."

"Cheer up Shep, I'll get you a plasma shotgun or a pretzel or something." Shepard just shakes her head and walks out, stepping through the gate with the others while I hang at the back, looking around with my Vindicator drawn. I see a wide open area with an block on the left side and a walkway, all shaded. There's some cubes in the middle that could be used as good cover, sturdy and shaded. Everyone runs to cover as they see a Geth dropship fly over and drop some troopers right in front of us. I delay a second and launch a hack attack at the closest one. Trusting in Legion, I run closer as that Geth stalls and sparks, orange flowing across its eye before it returns to normal lighting and then spins around, opening up on the Geth unit behind it. I slide in beside it, opening my shotgun on the other Geth and taking out their shields before I roll away to avoid their shots. I hear two cracks and see their heads explode, whit goop blowing out across the floor.

"Awesome, it's like science class. Except with more destructive scalpels."

Shepard and the others walk up and point their weapons at the Geth. I ignore that and pat its shoulderplate.

"Well done PG." The Geth's head turns to me and it makes a few clicks. I'm pushed to the side as well as Jacob when phasic rounds start tearing up at us again. PG drops when his shields blow out and a headshot is scored. "…dammit."

Shepard and Garrus take out the foremost enemies, a couple headshots dropping several of them. A Heretic unit is also wounded when a stubborn sniper round tears through its partner's head and then into its shoulder joint. One last Heretic is hiding behind cover and I run over, jumping it and knocking it to the ground before hacking it.

"Rise, Darth PG…" The orange eye of control takes over and then flashes bluish-white once again before the synthetic body rises, phasic rifle slack but ready to come up and rain down advanced rounds of death upon mine enemies! Mwahahahahahaha- ow ow, hot sun, hot sun! We duck back into the shadows and I make a hissing noisein pain, stifling it as the others get near.

"Delta, are you using some sort of new hacking program?" Jacob asks, eyeing the Geth.

"Yep, the best too. This guy wont stop fighting alongside us until the body itself gives out. Then I just grab a new one!"

"Oh wow, that's awesome!" Exclaims Kasumi.

"That is pretty useful. We can't delay and marvel at it though, lets go you guys" Shepard moves past us and behind a column, heading up a ramp. We follow her, me staying in the back with PG. "C'mon PG, we got some bots to shutdown."

At the top of the stairs 3 Geth are waiting for us, one in the doorway leading onto a metal balcony and 2 in a side hallway with crates reaching halfway across. Kasumi takes down the one at the balcony doorway with half a clip of her smg. Jacob shotguns one of the Geth in the hallway while the other takes cover behind the furthest crate. I quickly cloak and move past Jacob once his geth is down, standing at the crate and looking at the Geth. I grab his plasma rifle and pull on it while activating my plasma blade. I use it to cut through the Geth's wrists and pull the shotgun away, smirking and slamming the blade into the head of the Heretic unit. It vainly tries to grab my hand with its broken hands and shakes before its light fades out slowly, the shaking making the blade cut around more inside it. I turn to PG and hand him the plasma shotgun. He takes it and folds it before sticking it on the back of his hip.

"Cool." 5 more Geth come out, firing at us from cover across the open area the hallway led to. A rocket flies at me and I duck behind cover along with everyone else, PG right beside me. "Not cool!"

Shepard and the others open fire right back at them, one Geth goes down and another pops up when the shooting slows down, out long enough for me and PG to take it down with his phasic rounds and my Vindicator bursts. We all stay in the hallway, no open cover available with shade. I pull out my Viper and sight on the Rocket trooper, noticing a trooper behind it and taking that one out before keeping an eye on the rocket Heretic's launcher. I sought to replicate the stunt I did with that YMIR back on Freedoms Progress. As soon as I saw the rocket head I fired and smiled as the Heretic suddenly blew up. The last Heretic was taken down by PG's phasic rounds and we all went over to the walkway the Geth came up from. We see a tunnel and one Geth standing by the entrance so everyone adds in a pistol round and takes it down quickly. As wee head down Shepard finds a case full of eezo, about 500 units or so. We keep moving through the tunnel and Jacob and I shotgun the Geth just inside.

I send PG ahead of us and when he turns the corner he immediately opens fire on some Heretics who turn and fire at him. One falls down shortly and PG stands there while the remaining one shoots at him and he shoots back. I see PG's shields flicker and then his chest is torn apart by phasic rounds. The unit he inhabits sputters and then falls to the ground, inactive.

Groan "Dammit, now I gotta find another body…" I see a Geth Hunter body lying against the wall, limp but seemingly still active. I walk over to it and scan it with my infiltraitor omni-tool, getting additional programs added to PG's core. Shepard scans the Geth and gets a new upgrade then goes over to a communicator and finds Kal Reegar. I sync my comm. line with theirs and walk over to the opening Shepard stands at, seeing the Quarians fighting by the door. I take out my Viper and shoot the Heretics with them, trying to quickly clear a path to a new defensible position to the side of the door. Kal alerts us to the Dropship moving in and my eyes widen.

"Move!" I yell at the Quarians, shooting at the remaining Geth in my intended spot while moving to the side and away from Shepard. Garrus comes beside me and fires as well, taking out the last two Geth and clearing the spot for the Quarians. I look up and see the dropship slow down near the door, about to fire. The Quarians see it too and look at me, waving and pointing wildly at the new cover Garrus and I freed up. Shepard, Kasumi, and Jacob decide to get in some suppressive fire as the 4 Quarians run to the cover just when the two plasma blasts are fired out of the dropship, causing the pillar to fall in front of the door. When the smoke clears we all look away and hear a yell of anguish as one Quarian seemed to have gotten caught in the falling pillar and most of the body was gruesomely crushed. I stand at the side of the area, glad to have at least saved 3 of the Quarians. My happiness is short-lived as the dropship sends out one last blast of plasma. At me. I jump back to avoid it and Garrus dives to the side but I end up getting blasted back further by the explosion and fall down a level into a sublevel corridor.

"Ow, goddammit. Fucking Heretics…" Seems I'm a bit underground. Uh oh, what's that sound? Cave in! Crap! I run forward, seeing part of the roof collapse behind me, a pillar smashing through it. The dropship's blast must've destabilized whatever's up above. Now I'm at a T-junction and behind me is just rubble. Please let Shepard be reachable…

I put my hand to my helmet and activate the comms "Shepard? Shepard, are you there? Can you hear me?"

"Delta! Thank god… The sun's messing with our comm. abilities, you're staticky but I read you."

"Ok… I'm on a corridor and there's a left ad right path in front of me. I don't know which one to take and the part where I came in is going to need an excavation crew."

"No one has any information on the underground structures. EDI can't even get a scan in on the planet because of all the radiation." I hear some weapons fire in the background. "Delta we'll talk later, the geth have come back and they brought some new friends"

"Good luck Shepard… I'll try to meet up with you guys soon." I sigh and take the left path, shotgun up and pointed ahead. The hallway's long and I get the feeling it'll be a dead end.

Well, I passed a couple locked doors and found a dead end. Guess my hunch was right. I quickly head back to the junction and go straight, onto the right path and follow it to a corner ducking back around it as I see two Geth patrolling ahead. Yep, this is the right path. If the Geth are down here then that means there's an exit up and a way back to Shepard and I gotta find it. Considering I'm alone, stealth and the element of surprise should be on my side for as long as I can keep them. I holster my shotgun and activate my tactical cloak, blinking out with a silent crackle of sparks then head to the two Geth. I wait for their backs to be turned to me before activating my plasma daggers and stabbing into the back of their heads, twisting quickly and violently to silence them as quickly as I can. I slowly lower the two to the ground and then move the bodies behind an unlocked door. I move forward again, following the corridor as it turns left for a few meters then turns right and opens into a covered room with stone blocks. I walk through the room quickly, looking around and trying to find some way up to higher levels. A ramp appears around the corner at the opposite side of the room, leading up thankfully. I go up the ramp and crouch near the end, hiding behind a stone block and noticing the soft clanking and scuffle of metal on stone. I peek out of cover and see three Geth troopers, a rocket one and a Hunter. I activate my tactical cloak and move closer, silent as death or damn near to it. I stand behind a filled cart, obscured from view again while deciding what to do. The three troopers are the closest ones, the rocket is on a small ledge and the Hunter is taking up the rear near a door. He'd be a difficult hit. I suppose I could take out the two closest Geth and send PG into one of their bodies. I'll have to cloak though and move quickly to take down that rocket trooper. Then just the Hunter will be left.

Taking a breath to compose myself I slip out as the troopers get near and stab two. The third is stalled by PG's hacking and I cloak quickly, moving behind cover ot break line of sight as I climb up a couple of carts and run to the rocket troopers ledge. When near I jump to the trooper and land on it as its getting a line of sight on PG who just now turns around and starts firing at the Geth Hunter. My cloak fades away in mid-jump and the rocket geth doesn't pause before turning towards me but it's too late. I land on it, pushing its torso into the floor hard and pushing away the rocket launcher with one hand while my other one slams into it's flashlight eye, blade out and stabbing through. I twist and yank it out, turning with the launcher to face the Hunter as its cloak and shields fade. One rocket to its back is all I need to destroy the Hunter. PG's body looks a bit scratched up but he seems good. I drop down beside him and blink in surprise as an orange light shines out of his "face" and flows over behind me. I follow it to see the rocket trooper crawling towards us with its hands. It pauses and sparks as orange data bits appear around it and PG.

"…Delta-Specialist."

What the? "PG?"

"No. Geth."

"What just happened?"

"Data assimilation. We now have sufficient programs for auxiliary functions."

Awesome! "Sweet, you upgraded!"

"Yes. We now store over 500 programs, our limit for this memory core."

"Guess I better find some way to get you a better one. Oh well, we're in too much of a pickle now to worry about that."

The unit whirrs and clicks "Sensors do not detect vegetation of any form within a radius of 15 meters."

"It's a human saying PG. You know, PG's not a good name for you anymore."

"We do not require an individual designation."

"I need one. Makes it easier for me to direct commands. From now on, the group of programs currently included and those included in the future to the core program system accompanying me and assisting with hacking will be known as…Silver!"

"…Acknowledged. We are Silver."

"Perfect, now lets go kick some Heretic ass, eh Silver?"

"Acknowledged." We nod at each other and move on, going down a pathway and sticking to the shade as long as possible. I hope I don't get sunburn, I think I've been out too long in a couple places. Is tep through a door and turn the corner only to scramble back, knocking Silver down behind me as we fall behind the corner again, a large stream of fire blowing past us.

"That was close… go low." Silver clicks in a 'yes' and I stand, turning the corner quickly with my Scimitar up and shooting at the Flame troopers head. Silver turns with me, crouching down and firing up at the troopers torso with his phasic rifle. The flamer goes down in a second and we hurry past it only to bump into and knock a cloaked Hunter off balance. We all recover at the same time but two guns are better than one after all so it's obvious who won that little match as well. As the reigning champs Silver and I keep going along the covered pathway. I look to our left and am very surprised to get a good look of Shepard and the others, along with the 3 Quarians from earlier. They seem pinned down in small alcove by a group of Troopers. About 7 of them and they're also accompanied by 2 Geth Primes. I pull out my Viper immediately and risk direct sunlight to get a shot on one Prime's head, taking it out when I see the shields flicker out from someone's suppressive fire attempt.

The Prime drops and the other Geth look around confused as Silver takes my Vindicator and uses it to fire down on the Troopers nearest us. A couple more shots from my amped up Viper take down the other Prime and the Troopers turn around, finally locking on to us and firing. Shepard and everyone else come out of cover, mowing down the assembled Geth troops between our combined fire. I flash Shepard a thumbs up and get one in return, along with a wave from Kasumi. The Quarians look up and then drop back, weapons pointed up at us. Silver drops down behind cover and I duck into the shade when my shields start beeping a "low power" alert.

"Shepard, you read?"

"I read you Delta. Good to see you're still alive."

"I haven't encountered much resistance as it is. Guess your group still has most of their attention."

"Great…"

"I don't see any safe ways down from here so I'm going to forge on and see if I can find a new path to meet up with you guys. In the meantime, please tell the Quarians **not** to shoot any Geth seen walking beside me."

"Got it. See you on the other side Delta."

"Later Shep." I turn to Silver and nod at him, patting his shoulder before jogging down the path again, eager to find a way down to Shepard.

We move down a ramp into a building, and look out the right side, seeing an open are that reminds me of the truck loading area in factories and such. I'm surprised as a shotgun blast goes off, cutting my shields down. Two Geth Hunters appear near us, still cloaked but sparking as I let off panic blast against their shields with my Vindicator. Silver takes his phasic rifle against one and takcles it as its shields go out and a round wounds its leg joint. I shoot five bursts of fire into my Hunter's head and shout out in pain when my shields go down and a blast of plasma melts through my armor and hits my leg. I collapse and shut my eyes in pain, suddenly feeling it flare up as I recall dozens more similar injuries of varying size and degrees of damage that I never even got. Silver pulls me behind cover as a swarm of Recon drones come out and start firing at us.

I know I'm yelling in pain but then am vaguely aware of my arm moving on its own and taking a pack of medi-gel out before applying it to the injury. The cool, almost magical, healing half-solid half-liquid medicine helps greatly. I lay still and let it work, only leaning up to add pistol fire to Silver's efforts, helping take down an extra drone with each clip or two. It takes me a few minutes before my leg feels good enough to stand on. The Medi-gel feels odd now, clinging to my body and seeming to serve as a liquid bandage. A highly effective one at that, the skin on my leg is healing faster than normal and the area is sterilized and sealed off to prevent infection. Chakwas will be able to do a better healing but this stuff is great for patch-up jobs. Stings a little though, and smells kind of like coconut and alcohol. I up the adrenaline levels in my blood using the Soldier omni-tool to help with fighting. I stand and walk beside Silver who keeps a slight lead as I'm injured. As I watch him I shake my head at the Quarians. Why would they try to destroy them? The Geth are freaking awesome. Just cause they started asking questions they were considered good for termination. Silver just got me to cover and is now protecting me. Usually you don't know what you got til it's gone, but these guys had no idea of what they had at all. We look out a window and I gasp, seeing the courtyard and the giant freakin colossus standing in front of Tali's door.

"Delta, we have a plan."

"Really? Does it involve destroying that colossus?"

"No, assimilating it."

"…What?"

"Get down!" Shepard yells as she dives to the floor with the rest of her squad and the quarians. The colossus' Plasma cannon fires, the glob of explosive superheated liquid impacting against the wall and thankfully only a little splatters inside against their shields, enough to be handled with little trouble. They all get up and move into the downward ramp on the side of the room and look at each other.

"Just like old times Shepard."

"Yeah. Sadly nostalgia's not going to make this any easier."

"Over here! Get to cover" The group runs down to find Kal in cover behind a metal barrier and get as close as they can without endangering themselves.

"Squad Leader Kal Reegar, Migrant Fleet Marines. We talked on the radio before that dropship arrived. Still got no idea why you're here but now's not the time to be picky. Especially since you saved the last of my squad it seems. Tali's still inside there but the Geth have us cut off from her and the best I've been able to do is draw their attention. Which is really bad since they also have that Colossus stationed there."

"You're welcome but you might want to be thanking my subordinate, Specialist Delta."

"Which one is he?"

"He's not here right now. We got split up and saw each other a short time ago but since then its been no visuals and radio silence. At least for me, has anyone else seen him recently?"

"I have commander." Jacob speaks up.

"Where and when?"

"Right now, and on the ledge above that colossus."

"WHAT?" Everyone yells and pop their heads out of cover. Lo and behold, Delta is there, standing on the ledge above the Colossus with the charging plasma siege cannon of death, his omni-tool active as he waits for just the right moment.

"What the hell is he doing?" demands Shepard.

"He's crazy…" Mutters Kal.

"This wont end well…" Says Garrus.

Man this is stupid, and suicidal, and risky and, and, and a totally AWESOME idea! Props to Silver for the thought though it would be so much cooler without the additional snags but lets focus on the awesome part for now. Ah, I see a small access hatch. That'll make it easier, plus the footholds right there will stop my fall too. I drop down when my chance opens, falling quickly and prepared to crouch when I land to minimize movement and stay on target. I manage to do it and stumble a bit as the colossus moves, registering the sudden impact on its back. I don't give it the chance, nor the Geth at its side as with one hand I draw and fire my phalanx pistol, killing one while slamming the other into the hatch and letting Silver begin his hack. The Colossus shudders and lets out a loud whine, sparking and twitching suddenly which throws me off its back, coincidentally saving me from phasic fire. On the ground I draw my shotgun and go to town on the nearby troopers, switching to my Vindictor instead of reloading and keeping up a good stream of focused fire, my sniper nature trying to make every shot count even in my injured and slightly frantic shooting. The colossus stops makng the high-pitched whining noise and twitching, an orange light suddenly bursting out of its flashlight head as the charged gun is suddenly turned and fired on the heretic geth nearby. I shout with glee and then climb onto the Colossus' back, standing and holding the neck as I raise my Vindicator into the air.

"HI HO SILVER!" I shout with glee. Silver rearing back on his hind legs and raising the front ones in the air before crashing back down and bracing on the wall as the cannon shoots, blowing up most of the Geth in the center of the courtyard. My Vindicator barks out many times at straggling troopers as Silver aims and charges at the Geth on the upper pathway of the courtyard and the leftmost sun-drenched ledge.

Shepard and the others all come by the middle, quick trigger fingers taking down the Geth that survived Silver's blasts, all troopers seeing as how a barrage was sent the way of any Geth Hunter or Prime or any stronger than a rocket trooper. I sit on Silver's back, smiling behind my depolarized visor at everyone. The Quarians all approach tense and weapons up, aimed at Silver. I wave at them and they look at me while I point at Silver.

"Hey Shepard. Didja miss me?"

"How the hell do you manage to get set up so well?"

"I have no damn clue." Prior knowledge to many of the things in this universe sure as hell helps though. "But isn't it awesome? Don't deny it, you know you want one."

"Can't say it wouldn't be useful."

"I know right? Especially now considering we have 2 more Colossi incoming in a pincer attack the Geth had planned for us."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, we might want to set up now before they get here."

"Dammit, Everyone get to cover now! Garrus, on the high rises. Kasumi, get close but stay safe, your submachine gun will be useful for taking down their shields quickly."

Shepard continues giving orders to everyone, even Kal and his squad. Meanwhile I reload all my weapons then slide down from Silvers back, giving a quick order to stay in cover and not risk the colossus frame he was using. With that auto-repair function this one is far too useful to lose. The colossi arrive by dropship and are dropped down on the other side of the courtyard. The closest one is on our right, by the sun-drenched ledge but doesn't seem willing to move from its spot. I turn invisible as everyone opens fire. Silver ducks down while his cannon is charging and only pops up to fire, using my helmet camera to keep track of the colossi while his own optics are blocked. I sneak up to one of the colossi and stand behind it, my shotgun at the ready. Shepard and the others focus on the other one, slowly taking its shields down while the one I work on fires continuously at Silver's position. Silver pops up and fires back, nailing the torso of Colossus 1 and taking its shields offline. I capitalize on this and jump up, using my plasma blade to cut open the small hatch before jamming the shotgun barrel inside and firing until the clip overheats. I jump off and run, C1 turning to fire at me while Silver pops back up and fires at it again, destroying the Colossus. I pull my Vindicator and fire at the other one, adding my donation of rounds to the others and helping chip way the shields of the monstrous construct. C2 fires a blast of plasma at Kal and his Quarians who dodge but one gets caught in the splash and yells out while plasma seeps into her suit and starts to burn her skin. Silver shoots the second colossus with a constant fire of minguns, letting off on it as he fires his plasma cannon when the shields go down. The colossus staggers back a bit, the impact of the shot melted and warped from the heat of the plasma before sparking as everyone fires into the weakened section of the constructs armored shell. Sparks fly out of its body and joints after the barrage and it collapses before exploding. We all share a quick cheer as we head over to the door the Geth were trying to open. Silver folds up the colossus into a more compact form then glows orange before the light fades. I stand by and wait then see the body of a Geth trooper drop down from the ledge above the colossus.

I pat his shoulder "Welcome back to the small people Silver."

"Thank you."

"Alright, now wait out here by the colossus. We need Tali and if she knows about you, well, she might not help us…" Silver nods and I turn from him, heading inside to see Tali, Garrus and Shepard talking to each other.

"Well I hope the Admiralty board can make use of this data. It cost too much for us to get it in my opinion."

"So does this free you up for helping me again?"

"Of course. I can just send this to them with Kal and the others. They can complete the mission without me. It'll be great to work with you again Shepard, especially if its you calling the shots and not Cerberus."

"You don't know how glad I am to have you back Tali."

I pop up behind Tali out of my cloak and drape an arm over her shoulder "Hello Tali and welcome back to Shepard's in-depth action-packed Galactic cruise. We have a nice frigate sized ship with a stealth system fully equipped for those pesky missions done for people and reasons better left unsaid. We will have plenty of fun shooting bad people traveling the galaxy, fighting to end a great threat to humanity and the galaxy itself and all with free mojitos! For the low price of simply risking your life with each stop on our lovely cruise!"

"…Get off me, I have a shotgun." She pats the shotgun at her waist and I jump off beside Shepard then mock-cower behind her. Garrus and Shepard laugh and Tali seems like she's just raising an eyebrow at me. If she has one that is. I think they do but I'm not sure though.

"This is Delta. He's the one who shot the rocket the YMIR was about to launch at your friends on Freedom's Progress."

Tali straightens in surprise and looks at me again as I straighten up as well, tilting my head and looking back at her calmly.

"Really?"

"Yeah. He has his quirks, but so does everyone else on the ship. Thankfully its just dealing with occasional childishness and not another person bent on killing all they can. Plus he's almost never really childish unless we're in a safe area."

I nod and step back with Shepard and Garrus, heading outside as Tali follows us. Before we get to the door Tali hands Kal the data and tasks him with giving it to the Admirals.

"Will do ma'am and safe journeys. Do me a favor Shepard and look after her will you?"

Shepard chuckles "Of course Reegar."

Tali folds her arms and looks at Kal "You act like I can't take care of myself."

"I know you can ma'am, but still doesn't hurt to have someone watching your back."

The two chuckle at each other and Shepard and Garrus turn away but I keep watching, seeing Kal glance down slightly then almost raising a hand as Tali turns to see Shepard and Garrus while they walk. Kal's shoulders slump for a second but his chest puffs up some as Tali turns back and he lifts his hand. "Stay safe Tali. Keelah Se'lai."

"Keelah Se'lai Kal." They nod at each other and Tali walks over to Shepard. I glance between the two and grow a knowing smile then head out with Shepard.

"Oh yeah Shepard?"

"Yes Delta?"

"About that new friend I made today…" Tali goes stiff as a board when we step out and see Silver back inside the Colossus, his trooper body limp on the floor and the orange light flickering across the light on the Colossus' head.

"Can we keep him?"

Shepard just sighs and places a hand on the visor of her helmet while Tali looks like she's about to panic and is being held down by Garrus.

Oh well, at least she wont make such a big deal about Legion in the future.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And another chapter is done. Special thanks to Dracco, his idea was funny as hell and led me to some of my own.<strong>

**Delta: My. Skin. Hurts.**

**Me: Oh quiet, that's the 3****rd**** degree sunburns talking.**

**Delta: You think? I hate Haestrom! It sucks so much, I have sunburns on my sunburns!**

**Me: Quit whining so much. (slaps Delta's shoulder)**

**Delta: AH! YOU HORSE'S ASS!**

**Me: So there we go. We got Tali and a Colossus! Isn't that awesome? Now if only we can get one of those baskets people put on the backs of elephants when they want to ride them. To, EBAY! PEACE OUT PEOPLES!**


	12. Change in Relationships

**Me: Delta's unavailable now, he's uh, visiting his dermatologist. (phone vibrates and he checks it, seeing a text from Delta)**

**Delta: (through text) When I get back, we're upgrading Silver's plasma cannon. And using you for target practice.**

**Me: Well that's worrisome. I'm going to go make a defense bunker to run to, enjoy the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Bioware owns Mass Effect. Microsoft owns Halo. I own nothing used here, except the sense of humor. Seriously, some people need to learn to take a joke.**

Change in Relationships

I lean back in my chair tapping my foot in the air while its propped on the weapons bench of the armory, Silver standing beside me with his head tilting as I sing along with the music that plays from my omni-tool. Ah this is good, this is good. and I got a whole day for this between jumps back to the Citadel. Just from that I can tell we're probably handling Kasumi, Garrus and Thane's loyalty missions. Not sure if I want to tag along for Kasumi's but I think it'd be better to do Thane's, it's a pretty chill one even if the implications aren't. The warehouse is a large open space and with all those YMIRs it'd be useful for Shepard to take along Jack and Grunt. I let out a short yawn then lean down, pulling out my plasma repeater project and going back to work on it.

An hour later the gun is fully stripped and laid out, parts not needed placed off at the side to be later added to the spare parts cabinet while I take out the custom-made parts crucial to a Sangheili Plasma Repeater rifle. I start assembling and placing the parts where they should fit in the chassis of the rifle. It all works out well for the most part, the functional parts fit into the chassis and connect properly however I have to make a few adjustments. Firstly the lower half of the gun needs to be lower to make room for the rotating plasma ejector. Now the trigger guard needs to be replaced with a slightly broader, more rounded one so the lower barrel slides down and back properly for storage. Grip is a little odd but I'll get more accustomed to it soon. All it involved was a simple replacement of machinery and adjustment of barrels and voila. Aside from the trigger guard and lower rounded barrel it's virtually unchanged. I think I'll give it a light blue coloring over the whiter areas with a gunmetal grey shading too.

"I do believe it is done. Looks good too." I pick up the gun and press the button, smiling as it collapses neatly in my grip into its compact box shape. I re-open it and head to the elevator, planning on getting some target practice in. 2 feet from the door I stop and smile, turning around and running back towards my cot in the armory to lift it up, revealing a maintenance shaft. I slide in and set to work, dropping, crouching and crawling for a minute or so before coming out in the cargo hold behind some large crates of supplies. Coming out from behind the crates I note that the box shape of crates Grunt and I made for the arena was more or less intact. Seems all the crates were just pushed together to make a smaller, filled out box than the large empty one we had. Now I have to find a target though….

A few minutes later several stacks of boxes, about head height, are placed at different areas in the cargo hold. Some in the open middle area and a few placed with their sides poking out from behind larger crates that serve as cover. I'm crouched behind a mid-sized crate and count to three before popping up and firing at the boxes in the open. The kick is surprising, stronger than the Avenger's usual kickback but not as frequent, nor as powerful as the Mattock's. However while the kickback isn't as strong, the plasma bolts themselves are pretty effective. The top box got knocked off after 5 hits and there's melted slag on each impact point, more evident with consecutive hits. I turn and aim at the crate stacks poking out from behind the larger cover and fire, spraying both the cover and crates with a short burst of plasma fire. The stacks knocked down after an extra, shorter burst and I turn to the other ones. It seems I only get about 25 shots with each clip, and the shots are acceptably accurate. They wont all hit dead center but that's what the splash effect of the plasma globs is for after all. Yep, I'm satisfied with this weapon and with my modified Viper too I think I'll do pretty well on the battlefield. Now all that's left is to get my armor from Legion and the Geth then I'm good to go.

"Speaking of the Geth…" I turn to look at the side of the Cargo Hold where the Kodiak is held aloft by the cranes, underneath it the hijacked Geth colossus sits folded up and ready to be deployed like a vacant tank left in a bunker. I smirk at it then head up to the mess hall for some food before I resume my practice.

Five minutes later I'm back down in the cargo hold, happily eating a delicious bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich sandwich I made with Gardner's permission. Well, he didn't say no at least. Anyway the last third of the sandwich is left when I get back to the cargo hold and am actually kind of surprised to see Tali at the colossus frame, appearing to try and find a way into its folded body. There are few openings and it would take a lot of arm power to pry them open enough to pull it apart. I immediately cloak and sneak up behind her quickly, watching over her shoulder for a few seconds. Yep, she's trying to find an access panel or hatch in there.

"Come on you Bosh'tet, open up…"

"Whatcha doin Tali?" She jumps in the air and turns around, about to crouch for her boot knife but instead smacks her helmet against my chest. She backs up then, into the colossus and glares at me for scaring her at such an uncomfortably close proximity.

"You idiot, don't you ever do that again!"

"No way, its far too much fun. And a great way for catching people who are messing with others stuff. Why are you trying to sabotage my colossus buddy?"

Tali's eyes narrow a bit and she folds her arms "Your 'buddy' is a threat to us."

"Silver? No way, he's cool."

"It is not 'cool', it is a Geth! A colossus at that, inside the ship its far too easy to damage and kill us all with a single blast from its cannon! Whatever hacking system you used will fail and then it will re-activate. What are you going to do then?"

"Charge into the nearest group of enemies and blow them apart with a shout of 'Yippie Ki Yay motherfuckers!'"

"You're not understanding me! This colossus will turn on you and kill you while your guard is down!"

"No you're not understanding me. Your hate is filling your eyes and clouding your judgement. It's happened to all of you really for the right reasons and wrong ones as well. Silver is an ally, that's the bottom line. He will fight for us and help us as much as he can and even moreso when his power grows." I lean into Tali a bit now, eyes narrowed. "And you will not intervene unless it is to improve him."

"The only improvement I can think of for a Geth is a permanent shutdown."

"You're mad. I understand you have a right to be angry, but this level of anger is unjustified."

"What could you understand you bosh'tet? You don't know what it's like and you cant decide what level of my anger is justified or not!" Tali moves to the side and starts to storm off.

"I understand that your people first acted out of fear. They still do and haven't bothered to change any of their approaches. You speak as if you're dealing with bloodthirsty barbarians instead of another intelligent species capable of goodness. Though I admit, that is difficult when you're so hellbent on denying they even display the similarities, much less the actual evidence. If the Quaians want to have a chance at earning back their homeworld they need to stop looking through hate-tinted glasses. Or masks in this case."

Tali stops and turns around quickly, eyes narrowed in anger that spread wide in surprise at seeing an empty cargo hold around the lone colossus. She doesn't even notice the soft click of a hatch sliding into place over a maintenance tunnel. Meanwhile I'm already halfway back up a couple decks to the Armory, soon out and on my cot with the xbox on and my game playing. I also have my helmet on to cancel outside noise and review the data-files Legion sent to me earlier while my game and matches load. It's great to see their perspective on the events leading up to the Morning War. Helps me be as fairly objective as possible instead of just objective. I glance out and see us exiting into a desolate solar system. Odd, I thought we'd be heading straight to the Citadel.

I take off my helmet "EDI, has anything changed? We're out of the Relay sooner than usual."

"Shepard has made an emergency change to the route. We're passing through the Dakka system and are supposed to engage in orbit around Pragia."

Pragia… Oh, the Teltin place! So we're doing Jack's loyalty mission now eh? That's cool but this'll delay me getting my new armor. Damn, my usual set's more of a latticework of patches than the original armor plating. I turn back to my game as the match starts with a hurried goodbye to EDI. I'd wager we're about a half hour out from the planets so I should be good for a game or a couple quick ones.

I'm about 5 minutes into my second game and capturing the penultimate control point while using a tempest SMG to lay down suppressive fire. My teammate makes it up beside me and speeds up the capture sequence while helping to finish off the people I've hit. I pause when I notice EDI's voice coming in over the intercom.

"We are in orbit around Pragia. Miranda and Jack, please accompany Shepard on the shuttle." Guess Shepard's flying with only a couple wingmen on this mission. Well if she needs backup she can call for it but for now I'll focus on dealing with this damn shield camper. Come out from behind that barrier fucktard I just want to talk to ya. Don't mind Mr. Scimitar he just wants to put in his own two cents as well. I don't think Shepard finds out the Blood Pack's in the facility until they land, and then after that they run into that dude, Arash I think his name was. I doubt Shepard'll just let Jack kill him but I wonder what I should do for Jack and Miranda's fight. I smirk after blowing an enemy's head apart with a sniper shot. I'll just have to wait and see what she does. Until then I believe I'm free to go about my business here on this fine ship.

"What are you doing here?" Tali asked in a tone that showed curiosity and annoyance.

I freeze and Gabby lets out a small yelp before punching me in the stomach. "I told you not to do that!" She says while I regain my breath. Kenneth laughs.

"Well Tali, for starters I'm trying to teach my body to breathe again." I take a deep breath and straighten up with a wince. Good god that girl can hit… "After that I was hoping to see if you'd be willing to help me with a little project I have."

"Oh really? And what does this project involve?"

"The Geth Colossus."

"Unless it involves complete disassembly I am not going near that thing."

I roll my eyes "C'mon Tali it's not gonna kill you. Just the Collectors, and anyone else who's pissed off Shepard lately. Except the Council, I think they're off limits."

"I'm tired of this. It's a geth Delta. It can't be trusted and as soon as it is everyone will suffer."

"Well alright then, lets ignore an opportunities to make amends or start righting wrongs." I say as I walk away.

"The Geth can never make right what they have done."

"It's not the Geth I was referring to." The door closes as if on cue. I love my cinematic sense and timing, if this was a movie I'd be the star. I'd probably piss off the director enough that he leaves the abuse in though. Oh well, the bruises aren't that bad. Something hits the back of my head and stars erupt in front of my face as I stumble forward.

"You dare to say WE were the ones who were wrong!?" Can't say I didn't expect her to get mad at the comment.

"My people fought and died and were exiled by those monsters! We can't even set foot on our own home planet and are forced to live in ships that predate the ones on the markets that constantly require maintenance and movement to gather resources just for us to survive!" Her fist is clenched and her voice starts to rise in anger. "You even have the audacity to say that we're the ones who did wrong!"

"I'm the only one who knows the full story after all. Can't even say I'm surprised either." Tali tries to punch me again but I deflect her fist to the side. "Don't get me wrong Tali, I can't say that exile is exactly what your people deserved, but it was a consequence for a reason." I start to walk away to the elevator.

"Where do you think you are going?!"

"I'm going to finish my project of upgrading my ally. You can be mad, understanding, pensive or stubborn, my care is fading either way. Quite honestly I want to help, but I have little idea on how to approach it. Later." The door closes and sends me down to the garage bay. I see Silver in the Geth Trooper form working on the colossus already. The Colossus' face shines a bright orange and it unfolds completely.

"Delta-Specialist. We have ensured functionality between the two platforms. Without the use of the Colossus, this connection could be securely established among three smaller platforms simultaneously."

"Sweet, so you can coordinate three troopers at the same time?"

"We are capable of coordinating 3 small platforms simultaneously. The colossus can only be used in conjunction with 1 other platform except for the Prime or Hunter."

"Well that's still a plus. So what can we upgrade the Colossus with?"

"We have determined that the siege cannon would be better with an improved firing rate and that the high-rate machineguns are well suited for disabling shields and barriers quickly however they are a little more ineffective against armor. An Incendiary rounds upgrade would be recommended. We could also increase the speed of its movement."

"Alright, let's get this bad boy an upgrade or five." I exclaim. We immediately set to work, excited to make this armature class death bringer even more armed and death bringer-y. After about 15 more minutes of work we look up to see the Kodiak coming in and a bright light in the middle of an overgrown forest. Seems Jack got it out of her system. Kinda wish I was there to see the explosion closer. Miranda Shepard and Jack step out of the Kodiak as it lands and the crane moves over to lift it up and out of the corner of my eye I see Tali coming up to me, still angry, and am surprised to be honest. I didn't think she would hound me down twice in one day. Evidently she hates not getting in the last word, unless Shepard gave it.

"What exactly did you want to help with Delta?" Tali's arms are folded and I can tell she probably already knows but is just making sure.

"Many things really, help stop the Reapers, assist Shepard's ideals of a united and peaceful galaxy, introduce the Krogans to weed, stop the Quarians from eventually committing mass suicide, all those things really."

"What was that?!" Tali yells. Shepard frowns and starts heading for us.

"Introduce the Krogans to weed. I have a test batch to give Grunt, I think it's likely to make him stop being so antsy."

"Not that you bosh' tet! What was that about my people committing suicide!"

"It's almost obvious when you look at it. Silver's even run simulations on various scenarios based on choices your people have made so far and the ones that could be made in the future. They all end the same way."

"With what, if I may ask?" Shepard steps in and folds her arms as well.

"The Quarians are fucked." I sit down on the edge of the colossus and face Shepard moreso than Tali. I lower my voice some to better hide the natural lighthearted tone it carries. I find it helps with getting people to take me seriously. "Their best hope for general survival is brokering peace with the Geth. The Geth are also very reasonable and unlike them, hold like no grudges. The Geth realize the Quarians acted out of fear during what they call the Morning War and don't really blame them for it. I do, but it's because I've seen this kind of thing before. Researched it too, and still am, in a way. Anyway, the Quarian's greatest asset is also their worst, glaring weakness. With a homeworld and Navy, a race is capable of fighting without losing their living spaces but the Quarians have that combined. The only way to match the Geth fleet is for the Quarian fleet to be completely weaponized and used in combat, even the liveships need to be equipped with weapons platforms. On top of that, Quarian resources are low and your people will not be able to wage a war within 3 months even. By then resources would be too low to have a meager chance of getting out alive with half your liveships. No, no, if the Quarians decide to go to war with the Geth they'd be killed. The Geth have a base to construct and repair their ships as well as restock ammunition and supplies. They can rebuild, basically. The Quarians have no such capabilities, your resources are barely enough to sustain your people now, during a war they'd be stretched extremely thin and every ship lost would be gone forever because then you'd need to send out a ship with a few pilots, precious crewmembers, and even more precious supplies for the trip, to purchase new ships and then time to outfit them for battle. The Geth ships would also be in possession of laser and plasma weaponry too. The Quarians would have the cheapest, most mass-produced weapons and prayers because that's all they'd be able to afford. The only ideal solution here, is for the Geth and the Quarians to broker peace. There's no other way, unless the Quarians would rather die and I'm pretty sure that many don't."

"What makes you so sure of this Delta?" Shepard asks.

I jerk my head at Silver "Silver's helped me run the numbers. I've done my own simulations, he's run his, we've run em together, he's shown me the specs on Geth ships of various kinds, I've seen their weapon blueprints and usual loadouts and we also might've, maybe hacked into the Quarian databases to see how their resources looked. It was bad, even before I started doing the mind-numbing math involved in figuring out the crap we did. Then we did more simulations. In the end, we figured the Quarian's best chance to attack was in 4 months if they started outfitting their ships with weapons now and in 4months time charged the Geth. Then they'd be the closest at taking back their homeworld than they'd ever be about halfway through the 2nd week. After that point it would just be useless trench fighting and wasted lives. But hey, closer than ever."

"How can you make light of this!" Exlaims Tali.

"Two reasons, 1, I'm a douche apparently, it's hidden behind my kind and gentlemanly upbringing but it comes out at times and 2, because it's already almost guaranteed the quarians are going to rush in and attack anyways. I've suggested peace, now Murphy's law is going to fuck that up and Shepard will have to bail everyone's asses out of it in time."

"I'm surprised you gathered all this data to support your claim. When did you do this?"

"I finished weapons maintenance early. I'm surprised how many similarities I found between this issue and American slavery."

Shepard blinks "What?"

"Yeah, it was weird. The Geth are kinda like blacks, in the beginning of their service they really had no choice and were easily able to be seen as dumb animals. Over time however, they became smarter and more accustomed to those who they served. Both became more aware of their situation and kind of broke the status quo, the Geth asked if they had a soul and blacks who had fled to the North lobbied for the abolition of slavery. A big connection was an ending of violence. Black and white abolitonists were attacked for trying to get rid of slavery, buildings burned, families killed, and for the Geth the Quarians tried to shut them down. They resisted the shutdown commands, seeing no reason to be shut down and then the quarians switched to deadly force. So the Geth did the same to preserve their newfound sentience and also to protect the Quarian friends they've made."

"That does make sense…" Shepard says, nodding. "That issue hasn't really been touched on anytime recently though. It's strange for someone to bring it up."

"Well with alien life-forms present it's a lot easier for the ignorant to shift their hatreds from humans to extraterrestrials. I'm honestly not surprised that's the case."

"That is not a valid similarity, the Geth aren't human, they're not even organic!"

"They are sentient and that's enough. They are aware of their actions and judge based on a higher intelligence shared by all organic races. They aren't guided by instincts like animals, nor are they non-aware VIs. They're even conducting studies on organics just to know how to act more like them. Basically, they're trying to fit in. And the Quarians are trying to keep em out."

"Because they'll kill us all when they have the chance."

"So would plenty of people already here. I don't see the Quarians trying to kill Jack." I point at her and she lifts her head in a little bit of pride. "Either way, I'm done talking about this. I'm going to finish up the upgrades on the Colossus then take a nap. Hopefully we'll reach the Citadel when I'm awake." I say, nodding to Shepard and turning around to get back to work.

"Alright Delta. I'll leave you alone for now then. Good luck with the upgrades."

"Thanks Shep." I glance over my shoulder to see the four all walk away, Tali arguing with Shepard mutedly while they all step into the elevator.

"Delta-Specialist, are you well?"

"I'm fine. Just hate dealing with close-minded people. At least Tali seems somewhat open but I think that's only when Shepard talks to her, I don't seem to be able to make much progress. Maybe I just lack the silver tongue with certain people."

"We have never known for you to possess a tongue encased in silver. Does it serve some function for organics oral hygiene?"

I chuckle "No, it's a saying Silver. Let's just finish these upgrades, I feel tired already." We worked for about a half hour later then closed the carapace of the Colossus, finished with the upgrades to its cannon charging systems and power conduits. We managed to upgrade the firing rate of the cannon and the guns, also improve the power flow to the rest of the body as well. The incendiary rounds are rather powerful and the shields even got an upgrade off it too. Now we just have to work on the servomotors in the legs and then we'll be done.

"AH!"

"Delta-Specialist!"

Holy fucking crap this thing weighs a ton! I can't feel my leg! Ow!

"Silver, get this Colossi's ass off my leg!" After a few seconds the Colossus lifts the backside of its chassis into the air, legs readjusted temporarily to accomplish the feat while partially disassembled. I scoot back quickly so it can lower with minimal stress on the exposed and currently unarmored servos. It lowers again and I tend to my leg while Silver continues upgrading after a little fussing over me. Thank goodness those augments included a fortified skeleton. My leg bones would've been dust otherwise. On that note I think I'll go to bed early. Silver agrees, confirming it'll only be another 30 minutes before the last leg is upgraded. I limp over to the elevator with my sore leg and ride up to the CIC deck. Amazing how much pain can wear on your patience. Once there I head straight to the armor, a lazy wave to Kelly as I see her and flop onto my bed. Sweet sweet sleep; oh how I've missed thee, let me count the ways.

"Delta, the Illusive Man would like to speak to you." EDI pops up and delivers this glorious message.

"Tell him to fuck off, I'm going to sleep."

"I cannot do that."

"I can't get out of bed now. Seems we're both unable to do something another desires. Except Tim probably cares more than I do."

"He can hear you."

"Yeah, eh wouldn't have happened to bug us with speakers too would he? Kind of pretentious of him to assume everyone's gung-fucking-ho to go to the damn comm. Rooms to speak to him."

"He says he'll reward you."

"Yeah, with what?"

"Donuts."

"That wont wor-"

"A lifetime supply."

…Okay man, now hear me out on this one-

SHUT UP STOMACH!

But Braiiiin it's a lifetime supply of donuuuts.

I don't care, we need sleep!

But we can eat all we want! And then get more when we want it again!

No means no!

Lifetime supply King Kai! C'mon!

I can't believe we're having this conversation.

Me neither actually.

Tim's still waiting isn't he?

I think so.

"Delta, I feel it's important that you and I talk." Oh, he came over EDI's speaker.

"I'll give you 5 minutes."

"That's all I'll need."

"Doubt it, I'm cranky." I get up and walk into the Comms. Room. The table goes down, lights dim, I get scanned, yadda yadda, there's the prick. And his little dying sun too!

"What do you want Tim?"

"I believe you've withheld things from me. Objects that could be crucial to our success"

"You're being vague, you don't have time for me to make guesses."

"I want you to share the specifics of the augmentation serum you had concocted by Dr. Solus and give us the Geth body."

"No. Bye."

"You can't just say no! Those are important items for research for the good of humanity!"

"No way, give the terrorist organization with too many xenophobic radicals and dumbasses access to what is basically a supersoldier serum? And then add in the tech contained inside an intact Geth hardware and software subject? Nnnope. You can forget about that right here, because long as I'm alive, you are not touching that serum or my colossus intact. Bye Tim, I'm going to sleep."

Seriously… I'm not giving Cerberus anything that could give them an advantage over everyone. Good of humanity my ass. Best thing for humanity is to follow Shepard's advice. I'm gonna follow my own advice now and go the fuck to sleep. Ahhhh, warm, comfy cot. Please let me wake up when we reach the Citadel.

**Me: Woot! Another chapter done! Let's see if I can get another one out eh?**

**Delta: FIRE! (The upgraded Colossus starts shooting at Zero's covered and reinforced trench-hole)**

**Me: Well, Delta's back as you can see. Glad I made this bunker. And it's fully stocked too. (picks up a chicken leg and bites into it) I can last a few days in here and the Colossus needs a recharge at some point. Anyway, don't worry about me readers, I'll see you next time. PEACE! (Boom)**

**Author's Notice: For any of you who have interests in the action game "League of Legends" or plays said game, I have started a collaboration fic with my little brother Ace entitled "LoL-views". Basically it involves us pranking and having funny interviews with the champions of League of Legends so if you are interested look up the fic and post a review with a question you'd have for a champion. Mordekaiser is our first victim, I mean guest so think of him when brewing ideas. Peace!**


	13. Delta Effect PSA

**This chapter is really just one big Authors note/PSA for a topic I really need to address.**

Reviewers PSA

"Hey, Delta here."

"We are the Geth representative named Silver."

"And Zero612, the writer you all know and love, ladies and gents."

D: "We're here to tell you thanks, reviewers. You guys are awesome and your parents are awesome by default."

S: "We appreciate the readers for taking the time to analyze and enjoy the writings of Creator Zero612."

Z: "Yes, yes we do. I've been writing for almost a year now and with several stories out I realized something. I hardly say thanks. I've thanked a few people, sure but not everyone. And it really is everyone that deserves it, especially the reviewers. I feel happy seeing the number of hits my stories get, but what really brings a smile to my face is getting a new review. A simple "good job, I like the fic, its funny/cool/sweet/whatever is oddly enough amazingly good to read. What's better is I can look at those reviews again later when I'm writing and fix a mistake pointed out, follow the advice or just look at the praise and get my second wind in when I'm writing late nights. So this is a great big thank you to everyone who's reviewed, a thank you to everyone who's read this and favorited or followed, a thank you to those who've told your buddies about it. Thank you everybody for looking at what I've created in my somewhat deranged mind and saying 'Hey Zero. Good job.'"

D: "So readers, keep reading and join the ranks of the reviewers. Especially if you think of an idea. Honestly no matter what it is, this idiot could adapt and warp crap to make it fit almost perfectly. Definitely well enough for a chuckle at least."

S: "Agreed. We anticipate the exchange of data packets."

Z: "A last Thank You Everyone."

D & Z: "PEACE!"

Z: "You jackass, that's my catchphrase!"

D: "Well now its mine too, HA!"


	14. Change in Origin

**Me: Hello everybody and welcome back to Delta Effect! The show where changes are made, alliances are forged, guns are cleaned and wielded, things are killed, robots get rights-**

**Delta: and Donuts are eaten to the ire of Tim!**

**Me: (sighs) Dammit Delta, I was on an epic roll there.**

**Delta: I'm in your mind dude. It was all downhill from the robots get rights thing.**

**Me: Hey hey, I have plenty of good ideas and things going here! Why just last night I-!**

**Delta: (eats a donut) whatever. Silver! Do the disclaimer! I feel a Zero rant coming along!**

**Silver: Acknowledged. Beginning evasive protocols for copyright infringement.**

**Disclaimer: Zero612 does not own the rights to any portion of the Halo legacy or the Mass Effect trilogy. He does own a shiny mac. Oooh, shiny.**

* * *

><p><span>Change in Origin<span>

"DELTAAA!" Shepard yells, stomping into the armory.

"(mumble) 5 more minutes mom…" was my entirely lucid, in no way half-asleep response.

It sounds like Shepard pauses for just a millisecond before yelling again "Delta get up! What is this!" She holds up a bag that I see out of the corner of my eye before I shut it tightly.

"Not now Shepard, I'm on LA time…"

"It's 2 pm in LA."

"Then I'm on Palaven time."

"Palaven's roughly… 11 AM now."

"Then I'm on Tuchanka time!"

"On Tuchanka its GET YOUR ASS OUT OF BED BEFORE IT GETS KICKED TIME!" Shepard flips the cot over and throws me onto the floor.

"OW! Merda, my head!" I curl up, clutching my oft-beaten body part.

"What is this Delta!" Shepard shoves the bag in my face now.

"…It looks like weed."

"Why is there weed on MY SHIP!?"

"I had some for Grunt. Didn't I tell you? Yesterday?"

"I thought you were joking!"

"About giving it to the whole of Krogan society. Imagine how much that'd cost us to buy weed every day for em." A kick in the shin is my answer. "Ow! How'd you find it anyway?"

At this point fate decides to explain things to me as Grunt ambles into the room, eyes half-closed and bloodshot while he keeps sniffing the air like a bloodhound. He heads straight over to Shepard and tries to grab the bag of weed.

"B…B… Battlemaster, can I have more of that magic herb? I feel better than when I charged all those Blue suns mercs…"

…Holy fuck, Grunt is high as a goddamn kite! "Holy crap, Grunt's high as a goddamn kite!"

"Yeah I noticed! So did Jack, Tali, Zaeed and Gardner." Shepard bats away Grunt's lazily moving arm which kinda floats away before moving back to try and grab the bag. The cycle repeats and is kinda funny to watch.

"Well now we know what to do if the Krogan attack. Bomb em with weed smoke, packs of cheetos and blankets." Oooh, Shepard's glare promises unhealth.

"Delta…"

"That's the only weed I have, I promise. I don't know how he got it so early, I wasn't planning on giving him it until we left the Citadel. The place does drug tests right?"

"Delta, I have some important things to do here. Do not cause any problems, are we clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good." Shepard tosses the bag to me and I catch it she then pushes Grunt once he turns to follow the bag. "I'll see you later Delta."

"AGH!" Grunt is pushed off-balance and crashes into me, pinning me to the ground under 300-pounds of pure, stoned krogan muscle mass. Grunt is merely wriggling and rolls over comfortably while opening the bag to make another joint while I'm yelling and feeling my ribs cave in.

Eventually, Mordin and Kelly came in with Silver and together all of us shoved Grunt off my body. I'm about 3 inches thinner in my chest area but Chakwas says I'm just imagining it. Anyway later I head out with Tali and Kasumi by my side to the Citadel, looking around at the various shops. I don't know why Shepard appointed me babysitters but she did. Like I'm the most dangerous one here. Grunt might be high until the next mission but Jack is still rampant. Good luck Jacob. Wait he has to deal with Zaeed too. He's fucked.

"Delta?"

"Hmm?"

"It's nice to see you again, how are you?" Oh it's Lia.

"I'm doing pretty well, how about you Lia?"

"Not too bad really. I have a job with the cleanup engineering and managed to get a small room in a sort of hostel by the shelter."

"Nicely done Lia. Glad to see you're doing well. You remember Kasumi right? Well this is Tali Zorah vas Neema Nar Rayya, another friend and squadmate."

"It's nice to meet you Lia. Kasumi has told me about what Delta has done for you."

"It was very nice of him. I haven't had much trouble since either. He made a bit of a spectacle about it."

"I'm flashy, what can I say."

"Yes you were rather flashy with your plasma blade around that volus." Kasumi says.

"I was a little ticked off too, so sue me." Kasumi and Lia laugh a little, and Tali seemed to have gotten a little more comfortable and less stiff. We chat with Lia for a few minutes more before going on our way. I'm headed to a warehouse where I have to sign off on the delivery of my new armor. I can't wait to open it in the ship. Once it's signed off and headed out we walk over to the stores to see if there's anything good to get. I can see a nice tray of donuts over in that pastry shop there.

"…Trevor?" I hear the name muttered a second before someone suddenly hugs me from the side, light sobs coming form my shoulder. I jerk my head around to the noise and see a black man about my height, his face pushing into my shoulder as he keeps sobbing. He's balding a little, and some of his scalp is visible but there are few gray hairs. He's wearing a blue shirt and dark blue pants with a silver lining to both pieces.

"I thought I lost all of you guys. I'm so glad you're alive Trevor. I didn't know what I'd do with the rest of the family back home." The man pulls away with a smile over his face, not even seeming to notice Kasumi and Tali behind me who are just as confused as I am. The man grabs my arm and drags me with him down the street a bit. "Come on, the house is only over here, you remember right? Sure you do, You haven't been gone that long." A door opens and I'm dragged inside even more surprised at the homely family room we've stepped into. The man lets go and heads to the kitchen.

"So Trevor, what'll it be? A Pepsi, Sprite or some Naked Juice? I suggest the juice, one more week and it would've gone bad."

"I'll have the juice…" I walked over tot eh wall and stared at it, seeing the man standing there with another that looked like him, likely his brother. There was a woman too, she had a wide charming smile, thick curly locks of hair and a slim figure. It was a mixed family but the scariest thing was the child. He looked young but had my features. I looked at the other pictures, finding more of the brother's, the man and his wife, and my lookalike. The most recent one seemed to be taken when the 3 were getting aboard a shuttle. I picked this picture up and looked at it, feeling something important was here.

"Alright Trevor, here's your juice. Green machine, your favorite huh? Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't notice you had friends." I hold the cup the man passes to me and watch him walk by to Kasumi and Tali. "Hello you two I'm Gerry Johnson, nice to meet you." Kasumi and Tali both introduced themselves to him then looked at me.

"Delta, are you alright?" Kasumi asks.

"Delta? Who's Delta?"

"He is."

"I don't remember Trevor ever having 'Delta' as a nickname… Trevor, is this a new one for you?"

"No, I've had that nickname for years. Trevor's the name that's unfamiliar."

Gerry frowns. "What are you talking about Trevor? I've been calling you that and Trev for years. We've lived together almost all your life."

I turn to the man, the picture and frame still in hand. "That's impossible, you don't even seem all that familiar to me and I'd definitely know you if we've been living together that long."

Gerry seems shocked at this but then gets a 'eureka' face "Ah I see, you've suffered amnesia from the accident!"

"Accident?"

Gerry smiles sadly and walks over, taking the picture out of my hands "The accident. The one that made me think I lost all of you. A long while ago, close to half a year, you, your mother and father, my brother, left the Citadel on a shuttle to Freedom's progress. I stayed back, the Citadel was enough of a stretch for me anyway. Your parents though, they loved to travel. That was one of the things that made Jeremy and I so different. He would go anywhere, explore the areas around our old home as a kid and always take some time off from work or school to visit some new place. Those two heard about a frontier colony in the Terminus systems and wanted to go there, make a small home and help out with establishing the colony. I saw you all off at the docks, you were so excited that day. I was too, and happy for you guys until I heard the news."

Gerry turns to us and the smile goes away. "3 weeks later, I heard that your shuttle crashed in a mountain adjacent to the colony. The pilot tried to land in a small snowstorm but apparently the winds in one area were completely unlike the ones beside it. The shuttle was thrown into the side of the mountain and everyone was either dropped down the cliff or slammed against the rockside. An avalanche covered it and most of the bodies but it was said that they were all recovered. The rest were unrecoverable down that cliff. We assumed your body had fallen down there with your parents. I was heartbroken. I just couldn't believe you were all gone."

He smiles again, putting the picture down and wrapping me in a hug "But now you're back. My favorite nephew is back amongst the living when I had almost given up hope! You can enroll in that robotics school you dreamed of attending!"

Oh man oh man oh man! What is this? "Wh-what, What?! No! I can't!" I say, pushing away from Gerry. My shock is evident and so is his. "I, I can't stay here with you. I mean, it's not that you're bad, I-I just have a job already. I'm helping Shepard, she needs my help and I can't leave her. Besides I'm, I'm not Trevor…"

"What?" Gerry chuckles, a smile in his face but disbelief and growing sadness in his eyes. "Of course you're Trevor! You have his face, his body, his smile. I know my nephew better than every other person in the galaxy besides his parents. I know with a single glance that you're Trevor. Green Machine is your favorite flavor of Nakéd juice, your favorite video games are FPS or RTS games, you borrowed $50 from me to pledge to that new game on kickstarter called Planetary Annihilation, you like tinkering with machines, you always had a LOKI mech or two in your room to work on, the best food to bribe you with was donuts. Am I right?"

…Holy crap he is right. Except for the mechs and the borrowed money, but I do want that game, it's gonna be epic.

"How-how do you know all that?"

"Because you're Trevor, my nephew. Geez, you're never this dense." He chuckles.

"But that's just it I'm NOT Trevor. My name is Delta, I don't have an uncle Gerry, my dad wasn't named Jeremy, and I'm certainly not dead or a zombie!" Calm down Delta, calm down. There must be some kind of reasonable explanation for all this. "Trevor… Trevor was a doppelganger, that's it! There's that theory that everybody in the world has someone that looks like them!"

"You don't just look like him. You act like him, you talk like him. Every time Trevor was confused he would get a little flustered and angry because he was always nervous about not knowing the right answer to something and hated it even more."

"Stop naming the similarities! I'm not Trevor!" I walk off to the side, a hand on my hip and one pressing the palm against my forehead while my fingers scratch my scalp. "dammit" I mutter. I can't be Trevor, I'm ***** for crying out loud! Well, mainly Delta here but I was ***** when I was back home in LA. Ok, so apparently I have a lookalike here in the ME universe and he recently died. That's well, horrible to be honest but this is just a bad hassle. I mean I feel for the guy, really I do, but this is…too much. I can't worry about anything besides the Collectors and the Reapers now. I do know what it's like to lose a family…but Gerry's the only one here that can have some closure.

"I'm sorry. I'm not Trevor. Your nephew's dead." I turn and look at him while I say this. His eyes lose some luster and he stares at me with his head shaking some.

"No, no you are-"

"I'm not Gerry." I sigh. "Trevor's gone. I might have his body but he's not here. Trevor's dead and he isn't coming back. I don't want to say this but I have to because it's the truth and you need to come to terms with it. I am very sorry and you have my deepest condolences but I can't bring the dead back to life. I would if I could but it's impossible."

The man's crying now. It's silent but obvious. The tears are like glistening rivers running down his cheeks. I bow my head sadly, remembering my own brothers and parents. My lost family. "Believe me, I know what it's like to lose your family. Mine is gone too. The problem here is that if I could go back to them, would I? I'm needed here. I have a purpose and job too important to go back to them even though I love them with all my heart. Gerry, you're a grown man, you know what lies in this world, in this universe. You also know where Trevor is right now don't you?"

He sobs. "He's, he's in heaven isn't he?"

I nod. "That's right. Right now your brother, your sister in law and your favorite nephew are up in heaven, in paradise and they are safe from the horrors and temptations of this world. Do you really want him to come back down to this world where the shadows are just outside the light, and its so easy to look away from it?"

Gerry sobs a bit longer but its less pained. His shoulders sag as if a weight is lifted. "No. He's safe now. He's under God's wing and he's helping to look over his family, I know he is." Gerry says this as he sits down on the couch, a small smile on his face.

I step over and place a hand on his shoulder. "That he is. Now you make a promise. Not to me, not to you, but to God and to Trevor. You will live celebrate their lives by happily living out your own. You will live happily and enjoy life until God finally calls for you to take you up to your brother his wife and your nephew. Then you can be together again in paradise for all eternity."

Gerry's eyes shine and he places a hand firmly on my shoulder "I promise." He looks up to the ceiling. "I promise I'll live my life out happy Trevor, Jeremy, Aaliyah."

We smile at each other before letting go, he stands up and gives me a hug. "Stay safe *****. I'll pray for you and your family."

"Thank you Gerry. Live well."

"I will."

Kasumi, Tali and I walk away from Gerry's home. I'm smiling widely, because hell, I was scared as shit that he was gonna be overcome with grief again and do something drastic like kidnap me or kill himself or something. You have no idea how happy I am that actually worked out well.

"You handled that pretty well Delta. I didn't know you were very religious either."

"I was raised a Christian. Methodist to be exact. I've never been the most devout or seasoned but I like to believe I understood the most important message of Christianity and faith in God. To be nice to all, offer mercy where it's needed, inspire others to live well, that sort of stuff. I try not to be openly obvious or be a pretentious prick about it either."

"I've only seen Shepard spin words like that. Very well played." Tali says, seemingly impressed.

"Thank you Tali. I'm glad I didn't have to skimp out on the message to get all my desires across." What worries me though is what he said about Trevor's death. If it turns out I shoved Trevor's soul out of his body when I came here I don't think I'd ever forgive myself. I hope to God and whatever made this happen if it wasn't him that I didn't too. "Let's go to the bar. I could use a drink."

Kasumi laughs a little and we head over to the elevators to take them down to the Dark Star lounge. We spend some time in there, trading drinks and chatting. Pretty soon a couple hours have passed and we get a message from Shepard saying that shore leave is nearly over and everyone should make their way to the Normandy now. The three of us shrug and get up, paying for our drinks and heading out the lounge. We reach the docks and I wave to Shepard while breaking out in a slight jog over. We get into the docking tube and are partially into the airlock before disaster strikes.

My head catches fire. Not literally but my mind suddenly burns and I black out. Naptime again it seems…

I wake up in a blank expanse and look around. I find nothing but white and the small splotch of brown my skin makes. On that note it seems I'm naked. Uh oh… Oh god please don't make me give a speech to the school or something! Oh, color. I look at the floor and see more brown spreading out from my feet. The color is lighter and the texture soon tells me it's a wooden plank floorboard. I watch as a table seems to rise up from the ground as connected black lines and is then colored in to reveal a circular glass top. A keyboard, bookcase, two cabinets and a sofa rise up the same way along with- MY XBOX! You bastard you shoved me into this world, I'm gonna kick your goddamn metallic ass with my…intangible…foot. Wtf, I can't touch anything in here!

I look around in confusion knowing I'm back in my home, my living room to be exact when I hear the front door open. Oh my god… my family. My mom walks in with my brothers, all 3 of them, all of them smiling and laughing at some joke Beej and Q must have made together. M**** seems to be in a book again, probably his Nicolas Flamel series with a plastic target bag in his hands too. Man, I wonder how long it's been since I've been gon-

And I see myself coming out of the room. WTF!? I'm there?! But I'm here and-

"This is you in that dimension."

"HOLY FREAKIN CRAP!" I jump as a green bug looking thing comes up beside me. It looks like a thin collector… wait, is that a Prothean?

"Yes, I am a Prothean. This is why your conciousness was needed. You possess information of the future that is crucial and are the perfect conduit because of your interests in the world of our brothers as well."

"I'm…what?"

"Follow yourself boy." I look as he points at me, and see a wide smile on ym face as I see what my brother gives me out of the bag. Mass Effect 3. I'm gone fast enough for me to imagine a dust cloud in my image. I head back to the game room immediately, phasing through the walls of this dimension and see me pop the game in and get down to playing it immediately.

"I'm…shocked. How am I in two places at once?" I ask the Prothean.

"There was great need in our world. We Protheans had managed to do many things our predecessors couldn't even while building on their own achievements. One such thing was expansion across dimensions. After we began the first successful tests the Reapers attacked however, and our brothers were lost and we assume dead. For an emergency we set up this contingency but it required the assistance of our brothers. Seeing that it has worked however proves they are still alive, or at least their prodigy are. You have been given a Prothean cipher and their own as well but it seems it has been inactive. They should re-activate soon and even more will become clear to you. I can't explain what you want because I cannot last long here, and for that I am sorry. You must find me if you want the answers you haven't found yourself but if my calculations are right…those will be few. Goodbye, Delta." The green Prothean faded away and I was too shocked and busy absorbing what he told me to really try to stop him.

I stood there for what seems like eternity watching as myself plays the last game of the series, the one holding the results of all the choices I had made up to the end of ME2 and held the end of the world as we know it as a totally viable option should he fail. What I'm more concerned about though, is what that Prothean said. I have a cipher? And what does that mean that his "brothers are alive. Or at least their prodigy are?" Damn, I can't really think when I'm asleep and trying to remember all of ME3. I'll think about it later, holy crap that's a big Thresher Maw! We need a freaking Thresher gun, that'd be fucking awesome. Hmm… if we had slipspace… oh my god, evil idea brewing, store it away now! More research is needed for that. I smirk evilly and then continue to watch myself, not noticing the whiteness flow over everything slowly until it reaches the TV and myself. I reach out and touch myself on the shoulder. For one second it seems that I and my other self are connected and I can only think of one thing to tell myself.

"Don't leave that game unfinished." And then I'm gone, in both senses.

Back to pure darkness. Oh hey glyphs. These ones seem familiar and I recognize a few but not many at all. Then I see more glyphs of a different color come up beside them and I can read them all. Oh my gosh, those are Prothean glyphs! The cipher's active! Then these ones that are similar are the ones of the Prothean "brothers". Wow, I wonder what race they are… Hey what do these glyphs say? 'Beware the Reapers, they seek your death in Flood'. A flood? So the Reapers followed them huh. Guess they have the same situation as us.

The glyphs suddenly move away and I see the familiar schematics and files of the UNSC. Finally, something I can understand. Hey what's this? EVA Booster Frame? Well it certainly does look very, very cool. Halo tech is awesome, as is Mass Effect. So much tech I can't use though, I doubt I can make a MAC orbital defense platform or make use of these covenant plasma torpedoes or the mass drivers…. But they'd all be useful for the Reapers. And this galaxy needs all the useful help it can get! Forget personal use stuff. Let's get these projects filed between what I can use and what I can share.

I just hope to God I don't have to let Tim take any of these schematics.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: And that's another chapter done! Why is Delta here when he's also at home? You'll find out later. Maybe. I don't know, I'm still wondering if I should let you all figure it out while he does off-paper.<strong>

**Delta: Don't fuck around with that Zero, exposition's important!**

**Me: Geez, fine…killjoy.**

**Delta: Anyway, now with the Prothean cipher active in my mind, things are going to get cool. Especially when I figure out how to activate the cipher of their brothers. Even more knowledge and tech will be at my command.**

**Me: Don't go power hungry… So, until next time beloved readers,**

**Me & Delta: PEACE!**

**Me: Stop that, that's my thing!**

**Delta: no. ):D**


	15. Change in Procedure

**Me: Hello hello again, this is Zero612**

**Delta: And Delta!**

**Me: Writing to you from my temporary college apartment.**

**Delta: You have really been cranking out chapters these last few days.**

**Me: Nothing fuels my imagination like wanting to forget about school. Once my homework is finished it's like all my random thoughts go crazy.**

**Delta: That much is very evident. Anyways, onto adventure correct?**

**Me: Correct!**

**Disclaimer: I am broke and in college. How could I own anything spoken of here? I can't, so I don't, so don't sue me. I'd have to sell my liver or something to pay off the lawsuit. And I'm quite happy with my liver inside me!**

* * *

><p><span>A Change in Procedure<span>

I open my eyes to see a stunningly good looking face staring back at me, eyebrows strained in tension and mouth in a frown that quickly turns to a smile once I catch their eyes.

"Well good morning good lookin." I say.

"Delta, you're looking at a mirror." Shepard sighs.

"I know." I smile at myself and turn to see Miranda, Shepard and Chakwas all shaking their heads and sharing a sigh. "I'm just glad I didn't end up screwing up worse than blacking out in midsentence. How long have I been out Shep?"

"You've been out for a good 4 hours." Wow only that long? Gues I must not be very tired. Kasumi and Tali walk in along with Jacob and…Grunt? Anyway they all walk in and look at me before relaxing some. In fact Grunt looks very, _very_ relaxed.

"Shepard is Grunt-?"

"Grunt is still in a very long lasting aftereffect of the weed he smoked. Hasn't made much of a fuss for being cooped back up inside at all."

"Did he get more?" Grunt goes tense at this and Shepard seems to sense it.

"I don't know." She turns around to Grunt. "Did he?"

"Uh, well battlemaster, I did buy some more plant leaves but these ones are called "mint". The, uh, smell is in the tank and I thought burning some of these would help get rid of it." Grunt says, fidgeting little before pulling out the bag that has a mass of leaves and the words 'Medicinal Mint Leaves' written across it. I slowly start to climb out of bed while Shepard goes over to Grunt and tries to get a better look before he puts them away.

"Grunt, these are not mint leaves." Shepard says, her tone going dark. To Grunt's credit he lasted for a second under Shepard's interrogating glare before doing the smartest and dumbest thing one can do when given the two options her glare provides. Option 1, cry and blubber like a baby while begging for no latrine duty because you now know that when that happens Shepard will always go out of her way to make sure Gardner has enough provisions to have bean burritos and high dairy products every night for however long you're on duty; or option 2, Haul ass away from her and try to find a place to hide until her anger has calmed down to levels that don't promise indirect and legal torture or her anger has been redirected elsewhere. I give him 5 minutes. He'd probably run to his room and try to barricade the doors. Keyword: try. Shepard's scary cyborg strength is scary.

Oh god I feel a disturbance in the force. "Delta."

"…yes ma'am?" Prepare to enact groveling procedure 12.

"Did anything happen while you were unconscious?" Oh yes my saving grace!

"Yes actually, I found out I have a Prothean cipher installed in my mind. And one for a race similar to theirs but its inactive."

Shepard's anger is quickly replaced by surprise and interest. YES YES! I will surviiive! She steps closer as I stand up and pull my regular black t-shirt on with the gray cargo pants. "A race similar to the Protheans?"

"Yeah, apparently they have one that is. They seemed to consider them brothers so I assume so, unless they were Protheans who had changed in some way that made them obviously different or something. Either way It allows me to read Prothean glyphs now so, woohoo. And I have a few new schematics and stuff that the galaxy could find useful. Along with something special I think could help our chances."

"And I can expect to hear about these things in more detail soon?"

"Yes you can Shepard!"

"Good. I'm going to go talk to Grunt about his new hobby. I'll see you all later." Shepard nods to everyone and walks out. Everyone files out after her, Jacob and I heading to the elevator.

"So, how was babysitting Jack and Zaeed?"

"Horrible. On the plus side Kasumi said she wanted to try learning how to give a massage so it might work out."

"I bet, I saw her buying a book on the Citadel about massages. What was the title?" Jacob smiles and steps onto the elevator while I stand by the doors ."Oh yeah, 'From 'mass'age to 'bond'age. " I lied but the surprise on his face was priceless. I might catch shit from that but it was worth it. Oh geez, I wish I took a pic. Well, better head down to the hold. My new armor is waiting, woot!

Two maintenance shafts and a fall later I'm in the cargo hold looking around for my armor case. Ah there it is, perfect, and its upright too! Oh I'm so excited, I cant wait to see what I have. Oh my gawd…

This… this is true Spartan armor! It's the Mjolnir Mk VI armor with Grenadier kneecaps, and a tactical hardcase on the right thigh. The left shoulder plate is a reinforced ODST build and the right one is similar but the top part is longer and the bottom plate has 4 slots for sniper rounds. They have thermal clips in them for now, as does the rigid shell case on the left arm. It has 8 slots, each filled with a thermal clip. A grenadier chestplate with 7 inferno grenades stocked in it. And finally the coup de grace, an Mjolnir Mk VI helmet with a silver with a color scheme of black helmet and torso with red arms and legs and armor finish.

"It's, so, beautiful…" I think a tear just crawled out of the corner of my eye. LET'S PUT IT ON! I scramble to assemble the armor over my body, jumping in surprise as Silver walks out from behind the armor case with a blue screened tac-pad much more advance than the one from Halo. I look at him questioningly and he holds out a chip with a glowing blue circular core that looks like-

"A crystal matrix chip!"

"Correct. The Tactical readout pad will be your singular replacement to your dual omnitool type specializations. It has enough memory space to download large quantities of data, augmented further by the chip and computational matrix of the suit."

"You guys really copied it down word for word."

"Affirmative. We also reached consensus not to use it for future models unless given permission by yourself while your runtime remains active."

"I appreciate that Silver. So, what's the chip for really?"

Silver's light flashes then dims again "Us. We require more memory space and computational power to increase the effectiveness of our runtimes."

I smile and place the chip into the tacpad then activate the function to download the data from my soldier and Infiltrator omni-tool chips. "Welcome to the hardware involved in the legendary soon to be human juggernaut of the galaxy Silver." Once the data is downloaded I pull out the chip and look at it. Silver appears on it, a regular geth trooper body apparent but with a familiar color scheme change.

"Why are you black and red Silver?"

"It seemed appropriate considering our alliance." I smirk and plug him into the helmets chip slot. Without a neural interface it doesn't seem like Silver and I can connect like John and Cortana. Shame, he might've been able to help me organize the data I have stored in my head. I move around, waving my arms and legs then walking, jogging and running before full-out sprinting to see how the armor affects me. I'm faster, stronger and have more endurance than before. This suit is so great. After some time adjusting to it I take off the suit along with the chip containing Silver. The tac-pad separates from the armor and connects to my arm quite easily, giving me access to Silver and my omni-tool stuff as well. I'm really glad about the raised arm guards. The armor's gauntlets have a small rise behind the wrists and apparently that's where the Geth thought to install my plasma blades. It's so awesome to still have access to those. Oh, we are dealing with a whole new Delta baby! Woo!

"What is there to do now?"

"Delta-Specialist. Kasumi requests your presence with her and Shepard in the Captain's Cabin."

"Oh… ok, guess we'll head up to Shepard's then." I run to a wall and slide into a maintenance shaft, climbing up the ladder to my right and another after that. I make my way down the tunnel, knock out a hi in Morse code to Samara as I pass her room and come up to Shepard's room. I was about to drop in from the ceiling then stopped and decided to use the front door. So I dropped in front of the door and knocked. The door opened quickly and I saw Kasumi standing there fussing over Shepard's dress and necklace. Oh, so we're doing Kasumi's loyalty as well eh? Makes sense, it is in the Citadel area after all.

"I hate wearing these kinds of clothes."

"Oh come on Shep, you can't tell me you don't enjoy it at least a _little_ bit." Kasumi says teasingly. She looks over Shepard's shoulder at me and gives a small wave "Hey _Deruta_, good to see you could make it."

I just shrug and step in, letting the door close behind me. "I was summoned, and didn't have a huge reason not to come. Whatcha need me to do? Nice dress Shepard."

"Thanks…" Shepard somewhat grits out. She turns to Kasumi. "You do know it's going to be hard not to hit everyone who will be staring at my ass."

"I know. Hopefully you wont have to hold back long."

"I sense pre-emptive hostility."

"The plan I have made is for Delta to accompany you just in case I can't do so openly. I've been careful but I don't want to be careless with Hock. So Delta, now I need you to put on this." And with a flourish Kasumi pulls out a suit similar to the one a male Shepard would wear, except with a light blue trim instead of a whitish silver one. I shrugged my shoulders and went into the bathroom to put it on. It took me a few tries but I think I got it right. Kasumi checks it over and nods, saying its decent.

"Ok, now we need to get down to the planet and arrive by shuttlecar." Oy vey.

So 30 minutes later, I'm in the passenger set of the shuttlecar beside Shepard and Kasumi is leaning forward between us and showing us the pictures that go along with the plan she's made.

"Here's the basic plan. Shepard, you are Ms. Allison Gunn, a new and successful leader of a mercenary group in the Terminus systems named Black Call. Delta, you are Solomon or "Sol" Gunn, her son who she's trying to expose to the underworld so you have enough experience for when you take over."

"Alright, I seems like a good enough idea for now. You got the plan so far, right mommy? Ow! Whyyy?" Seriously I think I got dead arm from that punch. Geez, that dress has her pissed off more than normal…

"Moving on, you two are here with a present. A gold statue of your old friend Saren. Inside the statue your armor and weapons are hidden and you'll find it in the Vault along with what else we need. In the Vault should be Keiji's greybox. When inside we'll scope out what defenses he has for it." There isn't much else and our car lands in front of the place. I turn and watch the guards scanning and handling the statue while Hock comes out and introduces himself to Shepard. The statue is brought in and I hide a little smirk while turning to see the man. I walk over to Kasumi and 'mom' and stand by her while Hock asks for Kasumi to stay out.

"Seems he's suspsicious… I wonder if he got my image from Keiji's graybox. I'll have to follow you two while cloaked form now on. Remember, find the vault first before we do anything else so we can find out what we need to do to access it." Shepard and I nod and I assume an uninterested look while following Shepard inside the house.

"So EDI couldn't scan this place eh?" I whisper.

"No, Kasumi didn't want to risk it. I don't know what it is about Hock that's got her so spooked."

"Can't believe we still got to keep our pistols. I love my phalanx, oh yes I do."

"I still prefer the Carnifex."

"Yeah well, we have our own preferences don't we mom?"

"Sol...-Hello Mr. Hock"

Shepard starts chatting up Hock and I think I hear the beginnings of his speech. I do not want to be there for that so, ooh, lets just see whats down these non-conspicuous looking stairs shall we? Power cords, sparse lighting, reinforced walls. Yep, this is the Vault entrance. Or close to it. Nope, there it is! Right so if I remember correctly it has a kinetic barrier, a password/voice ID lock, and a DNA scanner. DNA's in Hock's room, Password voice id lock can be bypassed with a password and voice sample to sue for splicing and the kinetic barrier is getting powered somehow. Might as well cut it.

"Not a bad defensive setup." Kasumi says from my side and behind me. I nod and fold my arms, noticing Shepard walking down to us and rubbing her forehead.

"For an immoral greedy douche he's very pretentious and self-righteous."

"Isn't it fun how they believe they are needed? Maintaining balance yes, but would it be so bad if the balance tipped in favor of good for the people? Come on, really… anyway, we need to find a generator for the barrier, a password and some DNA now."

"That's right. I have enough of a voice sample to mess with but we still need the password. Someone's going to have to find the generator and overload it and finally find the DNA which is likely in his bedroom."

"I can handle the generator. You two handle the bedroom. You're both stealthier than I am."

"Alright Shep. Here's the wavelength to follow for the cable. Come on Delta." Kasumi fades out of sight.

I turn to Shepard and smirk at her while activating my tactical cloak. "I bet you wish you could do this too eh?" I move once invisible and she knows it so doesn't even try to smack where I was.

Kasumi and I head out on the balcony and jump the railing. We sneak over to the 3 Eclipse guards standing near the cliff edge. Two are talking to each other close to us while the furthest guy is standing off to the side smoking. I move over to the two guards and grab one, pulling him to em before pushing him into his buddy. They both flail when they realize how close they are to the edge and try to regain their balance. The guy nearest the edge widens his eyes and opens his mouth to scream, seeing my foot lifted up and my evil leer.

"Sparta."

Their screams alert the smoker and he turns, bringing his avenger rifle up but Kasumi grabs and yanks it out before slamming a fist into the side of his head sending him back and off. The rifle soon follows.

"Nice."

"Thank you."

I go to the window-pane and jump up, busting the glass with a hard elbow. The two of us walk up the stairs with pistol's drawn and spot the guards looking out towards where their companions used to stand. I aim for the leftmost guard's head and Kasumi aim's for his buddy before being certain of her shot and letting out a small bird-call whistle. The two turn towards us and each get one eyeful of a hot thief and a well-dressed young man and another eyeful of hot, magnetically accelerated lead chips.

"Well, that's that. Lets loot his room for DNA."

2 minutes later we have a few good samples and are searching for another.

"Sweet, a credit chit."

"Delta…"

"Still looking, still looking."

5 minutes later we get away with sufficient DNA and 7800 credits. We meet up with Shepard in front of the Vault and Shepard gives Kasumi the password to synthesize Hock's voice to while I put in the DNA samples. Once Hock says 'Peruggia' the door opens and inside the first room before the elevator is the statue of Saren. I slap a button on the pedestal and a tray slides out with Shepard and my armor on it along with our other weapons. I chose to go with only my custom Plasma Repeater and my modified Viper this time. Once both are on I reload my m-5 phalanx and check the laser targeting before letting it rest at my hip.

"Alright, I've secured the elevator. We wont appear on any cameras while we head down."

"Awesome, let's go get that graybox and get out of here. I have some weapons designs the Alliance needs to see."

The two nod and enter the elevator with me. We ride down quickly and are obviously deep underground. My ears popped several times. After just a minute we've stopped and are in the Vault, looking at all the priceless artifacts Hock has collected (illegally).

"Can we get Hock's contractor to redesign the Normandy's elevator?"

"Not now Delta. Look for that Graybox."

"Fine. Holy crap, is that the Statue of Liberty's head?! Oh man, those uber-american patriot people are not going to like this…" I frown and walk around, searching the area for the greybox and find a Prothean statue. I blink when looking as glyphs suddenly become visible along its base and readable.

"This statue is to commemorate our brother's who are presumed lost in the alternate dimension where they were to create a haven and a place for those that came before to find peace. The chapter of Perifira." Perifira? What is that? Geez, now I'm going to have to do research or something. Maybe I can ask Liara if we visit Illium soon. Oh it seems Shepard and Kasumi have found the graybox. And new guns. Well that's great, now lets look for an exit to this place because I want to get back to work on my new toy asa-Oh what the crap is that?!

"Ah Kasumi Goto. I had a feeling that was you at the door-" Hock began.

"Whoa what the crap is that?! Oh, it's Hock. Hey, Donnyman could you turn down the volume? And size, because your face looks like shit man. Old pale, wrinkly shit with-"

"…Kill them. Just for him, kill them." Hock said, then his holographic head disappeared.

"Thank you" I said to the empty space, my empty hand up and waving to the camera I spotted while my other hand had drawn and unloaded two shots from my phalanx rifle into the head of a dude who didn't turn his shields on in time. Once the bullets started being fired at me I ducked and got behind cover with a quick reload. I switch out for my PR and start firing at the guys near me, burning through their shields and them rather quickly. Chief Roe sends out a combat drone and seems to be charging an incinerator but Kasumi lets loose a few bursts from her new Locust that send Roe ducking back behind cover. I get up and run past Roe into the room ahead of her. I pop out a medi-gel packet from the first aid station and open the door to the garage, seeing a bunch of Eclips troopers, 2 engineers, and a YMIR. Too perfect.

"Too perfect. Silver?"

"Acknowledged."

Shepard and Kasumi come after me a second alter and see the YMIR gunning down and firing RPG's into the group of Eclipse mercs. I occasionally pop the head of someone who tries to flank the large mech. Sadly not all the mercs seem to be dying but they are getting hounded into a corner.

"Delta-Specialist, suppressing fire assistance is requested"

"Gotcha. Shepard, Kasumi, discourage the mercs from leaving that corner." I pull up my Viper and shoot just above some peeking heads when the YMIR stops and glows. Silver retreats back to my tac-pad as the YMIR's power core overloads and soon blows it and the mercs to hell. Satisfied we head through only for Hock to apparently lock down the driveway doors. Prick. So we share an about-face and go up the stairs to a side door. I snag a PDA on a crate beside the open door and download +4k credits from it. In the room there's a few crates, a locker, 2 YMIR mechs in an accessible storage casing and some troopers and an Eclipse Heavy. Wait a minute…

2 YMIRs? Why are there 6 missing? Crap, they've upgraded their defenses haven't they? Well then, only more reason to upgrade our attack. I press a few buttons to open the storage case and bring the mechs up front.

"Silver I need you to-"

"Acknowledged." The YMIRs shields flicker orange and their red double light circle faces are reformed into…

emote smileys. Well that's one way to differentiate friendlies. "Nice touch. Hold them back until we encounter higher resistance."

"Acknowledged."

I join Shepard and Kasumi, mainly by sniping the Heavy's head after Kasumi whacks him with a shadow strike and takes out his shields. I reload my sniper and wave then move up with the two to the next room. Silver's YMIRs are moving slowly behind us but that's fine since we're stuck behind cover anyway.

"We need to get past those mercs!" Shepard yells over the gunfire.

"The door's locked though, how are we going to proceed?"

"Improvise. Watch the gas tanks" I say with a smirk. I toss a couple of my inferno grenades over the cover and hear them explode. Apparently the blasts can take out shields alone because a couple of guys are running around while covered in fire. They don't stop until they're totally burnt up. I then activate my cloak and sneak around, trying to avoid the gunfire while making my way over to the gun on a nearby Mako with a whoop I deactivate the cloak and press the button to fire. The tanks blast open and destroy the wall and mercs while I do a little victory dance.

I'm knocked off the balcony by a chunk of metal that ricochets into my armored head. Ow.

Climbing back up takes a quick second but I jump the railing and get back with Shepard while she moves into the next room. Hock comes in over a radio, spouting some crap about how he's coming down himself to kill us. Pfft, as if, I'm a fucking Spartan dude and its Shepard you're really dealing with. Need anyone say more?

Why is an alarm beeping? "Delta-Specialist, your shields are lowering. We suggest finding cover before they fail." Oh, new enemies. "We would like to make a suggestion. Your armor is capable of a function that will greatly increase your accuracy with a single hand and reload speed however it causes unnatural stress on your muscles. Prolonged use of this function is not recommended, most efficient time would be for 30 seconds with a 2 minute cooldown period for the stress to be removed."

"So Dual wielding huh? Might as well. Shepard, toss me the Locust!" Shepard grunts while popping up to fire her avenger. When she ducks back down the locust is thrown over to me and enemy fire follows the gun, impacting against my cover. I hold my Phalanx in one hand and the Locust in the other then stand up, letting out a large burst from the locust into the mercs. Two guys' damaged shields fall after the first few shots and I change the burst to focus fire on another guy while my phalanx sends two rounds into their helmets. One guy stands, stumbling back and a last one into the chest makes sure he's put down. Everyone pops out of cover, an eclipse engineer apparently among the group too with a Vanguard and Heavy. Kasumi sends an overload to the Engineer and shoots her down while I duck behind cover and reload, putting my phalanx and the Locust away.

Shepard smirks and runs forward, speed suggesting she has an adrenaline surge active. A new clip is slammed into her rifle and is unloaded into the Heavy's face. As he falls back Shepard lashes out with a kick and hits the Vanguard in the stomach, causing him to double over leaving the back of his neck open for Shepard to slam the butt of her rifle into. A last double tap ensures his death. Kasumi and I move up to Shepard and we move forward after grabbing some resources and credits. We duck behind cover as two rockets scream towards us, fired by two YMIRs. Beside the YMIRs are three Eclipse Engineers who all laugh and heckle us while fire is rained down on our cover.

"Silver, now would be a good time."

"Acknowledged." The YMIRs that were following us step into the room and walk towards us, their emote faces smiling down at Shepard and Kasumi before stepping into sight of the other ones. Kasumi sends out an overload on one enemy YMIR while I target the other and Silver unleashes rockets into them. The enemy YMIRs are knocked back, their shields gone and their armor dinged. Silver shoots, both YMIRs focusing on the head of one of the enemies, damaging the armor around its head.

I toss a grenade to Shepard "Aim for the head"

"Thanks." With a smirk she reaches back and launches the grenade into the YMIRs head. It explodes, blowing the head apart and burning the circuits connected to it, fastforwarding the overheating of its core.

"Nice." We duck behind cover; Silver's mechs recharging their shields while Kasumi Shepard and I finish off the Engineers that were hiding after the YMIR went critical. It's companion was destroyed in the blast and I kick aside a scorched metal head.

The engineers lasted only a few bursts, shields barely intact from the blast. We continued on and I shouldered my Plasma repeater as Shepard goes around collecting titanium, spare parts and credits. I press the button to open the door and soon it does, displaying a packed loading/unloading area with an array of pipes on the left side and crates stacked all around the area. I look around and drop behind the crates n front of the door with Shepard and Kasumi because Hock suddenly appears in his Mantis Gunship and sprays us with automatic fire.

"You could have done this the easy way Goto. Allow me to show you the hard way."

"Goddammit this guy is annoying…" I pop out from the crates while Hock shoots at where he thinks Kasumi is and kill a few of the mercs that start flowing out from under the area with my Viper. Kasumi remains cloaked and moves over to the side, taking down the mercs that try to flank us. Shepard focuses her fire on the Gunship and I use my Viper, Plasma repeater, and Phalanx in quick succession to stem the flow at our side. I reload once the mercs slow their advance and proceed to kill the closer ones once more before sniping the stragglers.

"What did you tell your friend Kasumi? That you're doing this for love?" Well that was not cool.

"If I can get close to that ship I can disable its shields."

"So, kill all those around? I'm not sure, that seems like a bit of a stretch from our usual MO." Shepard side-kicks me while still spot on with her firing at Hock's ship. "Ow! Ok, we'll clear it out."

2 minutes later, which lasted forever due to Hock's annoying heckles, the area was clear, Kasumi, Shepard and I ended up at the left side of the place with Shepard and I holding our guns slack as the shields just reboot completely. And Hock seems arrogant enough to watch at us in smug contempt without shooting. We are kinda exposed here, wonder why he hasn't chosen to.

"Got a clear shot, here we go!" Kasumi says and runs to her left. She heads straight for the pipes and jumps onto them, jumping and pulling herself up before leaping onto the topmost and widest one. Hock follows her, firing his guns as she runs but not even managing to clip her heels until she gets to the top pipe.

"Silver, you filming this?"

"We are."

"Good."

Kasumi runs forward on the pipe towards Hock's ship as it lifts up to get a clear shot at her before it can she jumps again, going high and far to land on Hock's cockpit.

Hehe, cockpit.

Kasumi holds on as Hock swerves to try and shake her off. She merely lifts up her omni-tool and watches as an overload charges and is deployed. Hock's ship is covered by electricity as the shields fizzle out, the generator blown and now out of commission. Kasumi gives Hock a cheeky smile and mock salute before jumping and back-flipping towards us, landing in front and rolling back to beside Shepard to throw off extra momentum.

"Shields down. Let's tear that thing apart."

Shepard smirks and lowers her gun from her shoulder while turning to face Hock's newest position.

I throw up an inferno grenade and catch it in one hand while holding up my Plasma Rep. at the mercs that have just been summoned by Hock come into view.

I smirk. "Hello cannon fodder." I run forward and dive through one group of Eclipse mercs who immediately turn to fire at me while I run at the group behind them, both hands on my gun as I fire into one guy until he falls then one handedly shoot at his companion while stabbing the salarian to his right in the neck with my plasma blade. The group behind me keeps shooting until a boom interrupts their fire. The inferno grenade I dropped between their feet when I dive-rolled past them goes off, blowing apart a few shields and encasing them all on fire. To make matters worse I pull out my phalanx and blow the head of the Loki mech with them, adding it's explosion to the chaos. I run back to Shepard and kasumi behind the crates a suddenly 4 YMIR mechs are brought up in front of Hock's ship.

Well, that wasn't in the game… Now I know where those missing 6 went.

"Dammit!" Yells Kasumi, crouched as low as she can behind cover with Shepard and I.

"This is bad…" I say.

"We have to take out those YMIR. Their fire will keep us pinned down until the mercs manage to overpower us."

"We pop out to shoot them we'll get shredded before we take down one's shields. Silver, get those Ymir we have on standby out here now!"

"Acknowledged. Coordinating their attack with yours."

"Aim for the two at the sides. Blow their heads off, and their explosions should help thin the ranks." We wait for the doors to open again before popping up and firing at the YMIRs. Silver's manage to take down their shields before a few rockets hit his and knock out their shields and most of the armor. I blast a head off with a Viper shot but am forced back down before I can help with the other but hopefully Shepard and Kasumi got it. They drop back down, Kasumi clutching a wound in her shoulder.

"Dammit, I got hit."

"Hold still." Shepard applies some medi-gel and I shoot a merc that gets too close. I hear the YMIR blow up and check, seeing it took out one and the shields of the other two but they both sent a last barrage of rockets at Silver's making his fall down and blow up. Thankfully they were far enough to destruct without harming our shields too much but now we have no support. I lob my last three grenades out over our cover, dousing a small semicircle of fire and death to those caught in the blasts. We all get up and shoot at Hock's gunship, managing to force him down so we have one less strong support to worry about. I run forward, jumping and sliding over crates to get closer to the YMIRs while Shepard and Kasumi provide cover fire. I switch out my Viper for my phalanx pistol and jump over one YMIR's arm as it swings at me, trying to knock me down. Once behind it I jump onto its back, beating its head to knock out the shields before unloading the phalanx clip into it. I jump off the now headless YMIR and behind some crates on the loading bay, finding a good position to snipe the newly exposed mercs. When they realize their vulnerability they get up to move and are cut down by Shepard and Kasumi. With my Viper and their guns most of the mercs are soon cut down in our crossfire before I have to move from my sniper position to kill the ones that tried to evict me. 3 eclipse mercs, 2 humans and one Salarian with 2 LOKI mechs come to attack me. I shoot the Salarian in the head with my Viper, knocking out his shields and a corner of his head before dive-tackling the nearest human. I lean up and shoot at the other human while stabbing the grounded one in the gut. With both those guys down I snatch the nearest rifle and use it to gun down the mechs. I look back and see a bunch of dead bodies, courtesy of Shepard and Kasumi. Kasumi shadow strikes a couple of guys and adds an overload to the one with better shielding to take it down. Shepard then drops em completely with a burst of fire to their heads. I climb a crate and jump off it, dropping down onto someone and slamming them into the ground. I lean down and quickly snap their neck before jumping off and firing at the last merc with Shepard. We both reload and I switch back to my Plasma Repeater when Hock comes back up with his gunship and yells upon seeing his mercs dead.

"Gaahh! Why won't you just die?!" We just shoot him, scattering as his machinegun opens up on us. I send two Viper rounds into the cockpit and smile as the ship catches fire and soon blows up when Shepard an Kasumi shoot it some more. We all heave a sigh of relief and hurry over to the shuttle that comes and picks us up. I can't wait to get home. This was just tiring…

I sit in the corner of the room, half-asleep while Shepard and Kasumi inspect the graybox. Kasumi stands straight and still for a while until I notice her fists clench and a soft sad, "Keiji" comes out. A few seconds later I see her head jerk up and she gets tense.

"I… I can't do that! This is all that's left!" Kasumi says. Guess she got the recommendation to destroy them. Kasumi's hologoggles fade and she looks at Shepard.

"Is there anyway we can just destroy the information?"

"No, Keiji is a master at encryption. He laced the files into his own memory. You can't get one without experiencing the other."

I look down at my Tac-pad. "Silver…?"

"It is possible. We Geth are made of code. Decrypting Okuda-Keiji's would be possible."

"How long do you think it'd take?"

"Analyzing… We estimate 5 hours if the programs of unit Silver operated on it only. We could communicate with the other Geth programs to shorten that to 1 minute, at most."

"Can the Geth agree to delete the files and private memories from their databanks once done?"

"We agree."

"Alright then." I look up at Kasumi. "Hey Kasumi, I think we might be able to separate the two."

"What?"

"You could have the memories and files separate."

"How do you plan on doing that? Keiji was a master of encryption."

"My programs are pretty adaptive. They learn more every day too so I think this'd be a good task for them."

"Well… you're welcome to try." Kasumi says, handing me the graybox. I link it to the Tac-pad and watch as Silver initiates contact with the Geth collective. A little progress bar appears and slowly fills up. After nearly a minute I get two folders labeled memory and Classified.

"And we're done. It's even labeled for your convenience." I send the folder with the memories back into the graybox and hold the classified info. "I suppose I'll just get rid of these files." I say while deleting the classified info.

"It worked?!" Kasumi says in happiness and disbelief. She plugs in the graybox and spends the rest of the time looking through the memories of her last love. I lay back and settle down until we reach the ship. The disembark and shaft travel up to my room is just a fading blur as I strip my armor and lie in my bed. I feel the grasping fingers of sleep reach out to me, my mind flitting between the whole mission and ending with me helping Kasumi to keep the memories of Keiji.

I wonder if I cockblocked Jacob.

Eh, I doubt it.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: Well that's another chapter done. Tell me people what do you think of it?<strong>

**Delta: It sucks.**

**Me: (Falcon punch in the balls)**

**Delta: AGGAGAHHHAGHA! (Crumples to the floor)**

**Me: Heheheh, revennnnggeee…. Well, that's it for now. I'll be back to show you all more Mass Effect with Delta and Halo infused awesomeness later. PEACE!**


	16. Changing a Gift

**Me: Hello! I'm back! With another chapter! You know, I honestly thought having League of Legends installed in my computer (fucking finally) Would've gotten me to be uber late with this one. Especially with Cho'Gath being owned now. Love that dude. Can't play him like a boss, but still love it.**

**Delta: You're getting called a noob so much.**

**Me: Meh, it's only a little annoying now. Unless they keep it up. Honestly do people really expect someone to play an awesome game every time? Even at 2am too?**

**Delta: It was only 12…**

**Me: IRRELEVANT! Disclaimer, now!**

**Delta: geez, fine… **

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect and Halo are not owned by Zero612, they are the private property of Bioware and 343 Industries. This story is the mental culmination and work of Zero612's ideas, slight derangement, possible multiple personality disorder and a loooot of soda.**

Changing a Gift

Good morning. Good morning. It's a great, sunshiney… oh wait, we're in the semi-lightless void of space… well, there are several (million) stars out there so I guess it's sunshiney. Or starshiney…whatever.

I sit up in my bed and stretch before going out to prepare for the day. I slide down a shaft to get to the crew deck, toiletries and towel in hand along with a change of clothes, my usual uniform. I walk over to the men's restroom and only see Garrus just leaving it while a few of the morning shift female crewmembers are lined up outside theirs. I chuckle a bit too loudly and receive a glare from the nearest ones while stepping inside.

I shower, brush, spray some water on a blacked out Zaeed, apply deoderant, lotion up, pull Grunt out of the stall he got stuck in, wash my face, put on my usual outfit and step out to begin my day with a friendly salute to Jacob as he comes into the bathroom still looking tired but happy.

Guess he had a long night.

Now what's on the agenda today… better check with Shepard. I go up to the CIC and find a vent right above the podium where Shepard's standing, a cup of coffee in her hand and eyes vacantly staring at the hologram of the Normandy. I pull the vent to the side and drop my upper body down in front of her.

"Morning Shepard. What are we doing today?" Shepard's eyes widen in surprise and she leans back some as well but I get a more satisfying reaction out of Kelly who actually jumps back half a foot.

"We're headed to Tuchanka. Grunt said that he was feeling odd before he had some of that pot you brought aboard and we're going to see if anything's wrong with him."

"Okay. So, Tuchanka it is then. Hmm, what should I design this time…" I mutter to myself, smirking as ideas start to form and float around in my head. I adopt an upside down thinker pose while smirking and then chuckling quietly before I go back into the vents, getting louder as I go.

"He's rather unnerving at times…"

"Sometimes. Not as much as a Thresher Maw though."

"It'd be horrifying to see the two together."

"It probably would be."

Left, Left, down, right, up, down the ladder, through the wires, up the pipe, loop-de-loop and jazz hands. Alright, I think this is Miranda's room. Ah yes, I can see the furniture and the credit chit imprints. And some butt imprints. Nice, firm, GE perfect butt imprints. I remove the vent and poke my head out, checking to see if the coast is clear before I drop down to Miranda's desk.

"Alright Silver, you see it anywhere?" I ask quietly, raising my tac-pad up near my face.

"Electronic lock located 97 degrees to your left."

Ooh a painting. I move it aside softly so as not to damage the frame and see a small metal case. Child's play. "Alright open it up, quickly please."

The case clicks and whirs for a second before popping open, a small chip about twice the size of a SIM card and twice the thickness rests in the center of the safe. I pick it up and put it into a slot in my Tac-pad for safekeeping then close the safe and replace the picture while Silver locks it up again. I jump up into the vents and reseal the shaft opening just as I hear the door open and someone walk in. Through the vent I watch Miranda walk inside and look around for a second before sitting down at her desk.

Later in the cargo bay beside the cargo rack holding my armor, I inspect the control chip originally meant for Shepard that I just stole.

"Encryption is difficult but not impossible. Preliminary scans show no tracers linked to chip and casing designed to be shockproof and undetectable to most scanners." Silver said, analyzing and decrypting the control chips data.

"Interesting. So, how does it work?"

"Decrypting…. The chip operates by activating and nullifying electrical pulses in the brain. Control of the body is possible however this form was made more for control of thoughts. If supplanted with a signal booster and hardware to cover its weaker aspects of control, its could provide control over an organic body."

"Good to know. I have an idea. But first, we need to apply a few upgrades to the armor." I turn to the armor, putting the control chip down on my nearby worktable I brought down. Silver's geth body walks over and grabs a few tools when I upload the schematics to him before he starts working on the attachment. I turn and head over to a shaft, planning on paying the good doctor a visit.

"Ah Delta, good to see you again. Was worried about performing a lobotomy to get anymore useful ideas out of your head." Mordin says, a small chuckle at the end letting me know the last part was meant as a joke. At least mostly. I hope.

"Please don't cut my brain out of my head Mordin, I kinda need it for, well, living. As a non-vegetable. Anyway, I was hoping you could assist me with a project I have going on." I walk over to his computer and upload the schematics.

"Ahhh, interesting. Best reduce thruster size. Mass effect field will lessen weight, extra thrust not necessary. Can't reduce too much, threat of failed liftoff. Compact form, possible. Difficult but possible." Mordin keeps muttering things while looking at the schematics and his equipment.

"I guess I'll just leave it to you then Doctor?" I ask with a slight smile.

"Yes yes of course, core is easily made, can fashion thrusters, pack and harness with ease. Similar one to your blades yes?"

"Yup."

"Right, will get to it. Tell when done." Mordin types into his computer before going over to a table and grabbing a few vials of chemicals and such. I leave before watching too much, headed back down to the cargo bay where I find Tali and Silver together. Crap…

"Creator Tali Zorah we are providing upgrades to Delta-Specialist's battle armor. He is currently with Doctor Solus to discuss parts of his intended upgrades." Silver's light widens and then dims as he turns to see me walking over. "Correction: He is headed over to this unit now."

Tali turns and looks at me while I walk over. I give her a small wave before stepping past to grab some other tools that Silver can't currently wield with his hands full. "Hey Tali, what's up?" I turn to my suit and get to work adapting it for the harness.

"I was making sure this Geth didn't sabotage your suit."

"Aw, you do care."

"I'm not heartless. Besides, with your supposed control over it, if it turns on you then no ones safe."

I don't really have control over it. Whatever Silver does is of his won free will. "Right, but he's operating within the parameters set here. I don't think he's likely to turn on us so quickly, especially me since I have been the one most accommodating."

"Be that as it may."

"I get it Tali, you don't trust him because he's Geth. Don't trust him, trust me. Silver is perfectly fine and as much a part of the team as you and I and as likely to betray Shepard or anyone on the team as Garrus is. Trust me on this."

Tali stands there after my pause in working to speak and continues to stand while I get back to it. She turns to Silver who looks back at her for a second before refitting the back of the armor before turning back to myself.

"What are you two doing then?"

"I'm gonna make Garrus jealous of what evolution cut him off from."

"Really…"

"Mhmm."

"And you're using rockets for this?"

"Oh yeah. Unless I get down anti-gravity modules. Course that would be a weird thing to have in my mental…inventory…" Wraiths and Ghosts use antigravity to stay afloat, and banshees use em to fly… Fucking dumbass!

I jump away and run to Mordin's lab. "Mordin! I have a new idea! Stop what you're working on!"

"What?"

I run to his computer and start typing into it, changing the schematic to the one my mind slowly shows, pausing to let it "buffer" before transferring it to the screen. "Here, antigravity modules. Think you could make it work?"

Mordin looks and widens his eyes a lot more than usual, which is a surprising amount. I didn't know they could open that wide… it's kinda creepy. Anyway, he widens his eyes and starts typing then going around thinking, muttering thoughts and moving at a progressively fast pace until I can't follow and it just gets weird. I just start stepping towards the exit as Mordin moves around and does his thing. I hurry back to the cargo bay and over to Tali and Silver who are working.

Together.

Flash. "What was that?" Tali asks, turning around to see me with the tac-pad up and flashing as a picture develops on the screen.

"I was taking a picture to commemorate this moment where you guys are not locked in a subtly-hostile argument and instead working together. Like the old days."

"Before they started killing us."

"And the moment's gone. Well done Tali. Anything else you have to say that might ruin my hope of thigns getting better?"

"I have a shotgun."

"Duly noted." I hurry past her and look at the armor, seeing the two are making good progress. "Well… guess my assistance isn't entirely necessary here." I walk off, taking the control chip out and to my worktable to see what I can do with it. Should I make a gun or something else. You know what, manual insertion would be a fun thing to do so I need it able to be injected. And a device needs to be on top to latch onto the head… oh this is going to be so much fun.

"What are you doing?"

"Experimenting. Turning a mistake into a gain."

"How so?" 

"Maybe you'll find out next mission." I say with a smirk at Tali before turning to the table. Let's get to work.

I can't believe how fast that took. It's amazing how much stuff I can find that works even better than what I had in mind. I thought I'd have to make my own penetrating electrode array but lo and behold its here. Why its also encased in armored penetration parts is anyone's guess but I'll chalk it up to weird Cerberus shit. Maybe its supposed to be an anti-tank emp mine or something…. Anyway, my newest original idea is complete and I think we have about an hour or two before we reach Tuchanka.

"So how does it look?" I ask Tali and Silver who are both looking at my armor.

"Pretty good. Which makes me wonder why YOU are getting this."

"I thought of it and I'm providing the experimental technology to Mordin to augment research and development. Most of these ideas will be shared with the galactic community after we use whatever I come up with to kick the Collector's asses and then the idiots in the Council can decide what to outlaw and what to allow." I say in response.

"And the rest of the team?"

"Is free to ask me for help in applying the upgrades to their own stuff."

"The only things that seem useful are your plasma blades and no one else really uses bladed weaponry."

I just shrug and step up to my armor, waiting as the main parts; the gauntlets, greaves, and chestplates, are applied to my body by small mechanized arms and held in place while the rest of the armor folds out from the bulky main parts to form into my smoother armor. My back was a bit more weighty than usual but the artificial muscle augments in the armor helped take most of the packs weight off my back. On my back is a medium sized smooth, curving backpack-like add-on to my armor. The middle segment is a smooth black teardrop shape with blue lights dimly glowing atop it on either side. On its side are symmetrically designed "wings" shaped like a V with the open tops attached to the top and bottom of the pack and pointed out with a black and blue orb at the base that glowed blue. On the bottom of the pack were two fin-like ovals that had a blue slit going down the middle.

"Power core stable. Operating at 65%. Energy expenditure and generation equalized at 100%/100%. Jetpack systems synchronizing…. Synchronization complete. Control link established. Awaiting orders."

"Alright, thanks Silver." I look at Tali and nod, stepping down from the case holding the arms and the storage for my armor parts. Tali, you might want to stand back a bit.

She nods and backs up, watching carefully.

"Alright Silver, start up the antigravity modules." I hear a low hum build up as the lights on the pack get brighter slowly. I soon feel myself get lighter and lighter until my feet lift up off the ground and hover above it by about half a foot. I lean to the left and move in that direction then lean right and do the same. I nod to myself and get familiar with the odd weightlessness.

"Alright, alright. Now, lets start with the thrusters."

"We recommend first use at 5% propulsion."

"Nah, lets take it up to a quarter power."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup."

"Acknowledged."

The slits on the pack's fins light up and thrust me upward, a short blue trail line following behind like in Tron but dissipating quickly. I'm excited by the sudden thrust and look up but frown when I see the bottom of the Kodiak above my head "Crap, Silver cut the power!"

"Acknowledged." All power shuts off in the pack and suddenly gravity comes back with a vengeance. I fall back to the ground and hit hard, bouncing off the top of a large crate then facedown onto the floor. Tali runs over and crouches by me as I groan in pain.

This is probably Karma telling me not to steal again. Shut up karma.

"I say you quite worried me when you left my grip. I sure hope you do not try to do so again, I was quite frantic when you slipped out." Says a miniature purple elephant in a top hat floating by Tali's head. Oh, I think I knocked a wire loose…

"Are you okay Delta?" Tali asks, worried.

"No worries Tali I'm fine. A little banged up but fine. Ok, so from the top. At 5%"

"We think this could have been avoided if testing began at 5%"

"Shut up Silver." The external speakers in my helmet let out a rhythmic series of soft static. It reminds me of someone snickering with grit teeth trying to hide their laughter. Wait…

"Silver, are you laughing?!"

"Affirmative." I chuckle then start laughing myself as I see Tali get a small look of shock on her face. My little programs are all grown up, ha! We reactivate the antigravity "wings" and then put some energy into the booster thrusters, which send me up again at a slower pace and no light trail apparent. I get used to moving and guiding the pack myself so Silver just needs to work on energy distribution instead of driving as well, unless I start chasing someone on a skycar shuttle or something so I can use my guns. Once I'm familiar with movement I bring up the energy gradually and accelerate. Soon enough I'm zooming small circles and loop de loops in the air above Tali at 15% energy.

"Delta, Tali, Shepard has requested your presence on the mission to Tuchanka."

Oh sweet sweetness! I drop down and turn off the pack when by my worktable, quickly picking up the prototype device I created in secret and pocketing it in my armor's reinforced tactical hard-pack. I walk with Tali up to pick up our weapons from the armory quickly, taking my Plasma Repeater, Viper, and the Locust smg instead of my phalanx pistol. Tali takes her Scimitar shotgun and phalanx pistol with her and we both walk into the shuttle seeing Shepard already there with Grunt and Mordin.

"What did you do to your armor this time?" Shepard asks me, looking at the pack attached that makes me half as bulky as Grunt with the same shape.

"A flying attachment. Like the shape? It's pretty compact and extremely effective. Plus it makes me look like a little krogan! Look at my big hump! Look at it and be jealous of my hump that brings all the enemies to their deaths!"

"You're insane." Was Shepard's only reply.

"Partially! I have a shred left and that is occupied by my intelligence and morals off the battlefield."

Shepard shakes her head as the shuttle takes off, flying down through the sky into a ruined Tuchankan city. Finally we shall see Grunt's induction into the Urdnot clan and see what Mordin does to his former student. Oh the excitement is so palpable Grunt is fidgety, Mordin seems to be thinking about something and is muttering to himself. Tali and Shepard are checking over their weaponry.

And I let out a fart. And everyone's staring at me.

"Uhhh… It was him." I point at Grunt.

Shepard facepalms.

**Me: Well, there's another chapter for you all to enjoy Delta's incredible amount of randomness, ingenuity and overall, funny stupidity.**

**Delta: It's genius! Not stupidity! Geni-**

**Me: Yeah yeah, go back to your corner before I get my bro to Derp you.**

**Delta: Derp me?**

**Me: It's his way of cursing. I never know what swear he's using since he just censors it with that word. Last time he derped someone didn't end well though.**

**Delta: Really? How bad was it?**

**Me: He fed someone to Kog' Maw. Called it light derping.**

**Delta: ….**

**Me: Yeah. Anyway, next chapter is coming soon everyone. Until then, PEACE!**


	17. Changing Insanity

**Me: And here's the next chapter. Comprising of the grand reveal of Delta's mission level usage of his brand new flight pack.**

**Delta: Which is the shiiiiiiiiiit. It's like having a miniature Banshee strapped to my back and put under my control!**

**Me: We also get to find out what the hell is that device he built after stealing Miranda's control chip. Speaking of Miranda, hotsexylady, do the disclaimer please!**

**Miranda: (a tick mark appears on her forehead and she lifts her hand, using Slam on Zero)**

**Disclaimer: Zero612 does not own Mass Effect or Halo. The story ideas are the result of his own creativity and time along with the laws of cause and effect. Murphy's law would be put into effect if Shepard only didn't activate it so damn much. It has a cooldown period afterall, it's a hardworked law. And always remember, Gravity loves you and doesn't ever want to let you go.**

**Delta: Overly attached Gravity. Can we make a meme out of that?**

**Miranda: I don't care. (walks off. Well, struts off somewhat unconsciously)**

**Delta: Hothothot hot hot hothothot. (is hit by a small warp) OW!**

* * *

><p><span> Changing Insanity<span>

The shuttle lands and opens, I'm thrown out and the rest of the group quickly gets out, faces wrinkled in disgust.

"Dammit Delta, what the hell did you eat?" Shepard says.

"Nothing. It's the heat that's making it stink more." I respond defensively. I get easily embarrassed about my loud farts, shut up...

"Possibly also the dead varren in the corner." Tali says, her voice easily showing how unaffected she is by the smell. Lucky she got the best air filters.

"Goddammit, is everything trying to choke me with its smells?"

"I might choke you with my hands Human. We normally don't let your kind here but the chief has demanded we allow you to enter. Go see him." Says a Krogan who looks at us angrily. He then turns to Grunt. "And give your whelp the Rite soon."

"The Rite? What is that?" Shepard asks the Krogan.

"Go speak to our clanleader." He replies before stalking off. Shepard frowns at his back then leads us off the landing platform and through a tunnel. The tunnel ends in a wide, open area reminiscent of the places I've seen in my Fallout game. The roof was the husk of a large, wide building that had its floors and debris cleared with holes to allow sunlight in and their big Tomkah trucks nestled in the mechanics workshop by the traveling tunnels. On the lower main floor I see the main group of Krogans moving around between the available things, some at the shops, others at the Varren pits, a few guys shooting the pyjaks with their guns and some are milling around near where I assume the clan leader sits.

"Wow."

"It's more Krogan than I've ever seen all in the same place."

"This…This is Tuchanka? My homeworld?"

"This is the worst case of Lizard-man sausagefest I have ever seen…" Weird looks again. "Oh come on, I know you're all thinking 'where are the females'!" I say, turning to them. Shepard walks by towards where the Clan leader seems to sit and argue with some Krogan. That Krogan getting in a fit is Gatatog Uvenk… and he only fights with Shepard's friend.

"Stop. You cannot speak to the Clanleader untilhe is doen with his meeting." A Krogan guard says as we try to approach the throne of rubble.

"Let me through. I need to speak with him now, its urgent."

Uvenk prattles on about tradition and his stupid crap while our buddy watches boredly. He then catches sight of Shepard and I smirk when he straightens immediately.

"Shepard!"

"Sounds like he's called. Excuse me." Shepard pushes past the guard and is followed by the squad. I'm last to go by and give the guy a wide smile after depolarizing my visor with a quick middle finger. He growls and glares at my back as if trying to burn through my armor.

"Shepard. You're looking good for being dead. Should've known the Void couldn't hold you."

"It's nice to see you again too Wrex. How have you been?"

"Good, good. I've used our success on Virmire to rally the krogan together under a single banner. We need to stop being divided and unite. Only then can we combat this genophage and rise again." Wrex said.

Shepard and Wrex carry on talking from this point and I turn to see Grunt staring around the place. I step over to him and pat him on the shoulder.

"Check it out bud. You're home."

"Home? This is my home? It's little more than once great piles of dirt and rocks. How is this the land of my ancestors? The Battlemasters whose blood mine is distilled from!"

"They blew it up. Fireworks were big amongst your people." I look at Grunt and he looks back a little irritatedly. I just smile and he frowns. "Don't hurt me."

"Why not? You're hardier than you look."

"Because Wrex and Shepard just called for you." Grunt turned around and saw that Wrex and Shepard were both looking at him. He stepped forward and Wrex bent down and began sniffing him.

"He doesn't wear deoderant so you might wanna… or just go ahead, whatever works for you." I say. Shepard glares at me and I take it as a clue to shut up. I sigh and move off, heading down toward the main floor.

Silver turns on the radio and keeps track of what Shepard and the others are saying just so I know when to get back with them. In the meantime, I see some pyjaks that need shooting and a few Varren that look like winners.

Boom! "30" Boom "31" Boom "32" Boom "33" BOOM "35. How's that?" I ask the Krogan soldier manning the defense guns.

"Pretty good. Definitely lowered them enough to not try and steal from our food stores again for a short while at least."

"Sweet. Later" I walk away, heading over to the Varren pits and counting my money as my latest bet comes up. Come on, come on, Red flash, kill the other one! Woohoo! 2,500 credits are mine! Pay up bitches! "I believe I won that round Urek. Mind paying my money?"

"Dirty Human…" Urek, a brown and green krogan with a small sized hump says, taking the credit chit out and giving me the desired amount. I walk away humming happily until I hear something.

"Where's his krantt? Me and mine stand to deny him. Where are his?" Fucking Uvenk being a pain in the ass…

"There's myself, and the others beside me. There's another who will be here soon I bet."

"You? You stand for this tank-born whelp created from our greatest? A mockery to the Krogans?!" Grunt growls at this so I do the only thing that seems reasonable and logical. In my head.

"MIIIIIINEE!" I shout into the mike, running to the stairs and up it.

"Oh god…" Shepard says with an audible sigh.

"mine mine mine mine mine mine Mine Mine Mine MINE MINE **MINE**!" I chant this faster and louder while flying up the stairs, pausing and then readjusting to shoot straight, applying a large boost to my packs thruster fins to fly straight into Uvenk's head…well, head-first.

We both topple down to the ground though I fly into a wall as well and slump onto the ground with my head shaking wildly and vision blurry. "Haha, Krogan headbutt FTW! I'm seeing that purple elephant again…"

"There he is… in all his glory." Says Shepard.

"Hahaha, I like these humans! They understand our ways."

Uvenk gets up with the help of his two friends, shaking his head "You… You dare.."

"Yes I do, now go away before I taunt you a second tiiiimmeee! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!" I say in a slight daze. Shepard shakes her head as Uvenk glares and leaves. I lay on the ground and listen to the Shaman talk about the Rite and then Grunt's agreement. I get up when everyone starts piling out of the room and follow them to one of the tomkahs. We all pile in and I find it's actually kind of roomy. Though its built for Krogans so I guess humans would find this spacious. The ride's also a pretty long one, lasting about 15-20 minutes long and filled with bumps. Which, really sucked since I had a bit of a concussion.

"We're here." The Shaman grunts out. Thank goodness. I'm the first one up and out of the vehicle, standing in front of the tunnel that leads to the arena where we find the keystone. The Shaman and Shepard exchange a few words while walking up and I follow, thankfully mostly healed now. I'll have to sleep before I get back to work on any of my next projects.

"So Grunt, feel you're up for this?" I ask my krogan crewmate.

He looks back and snarls a bit "Are you suggesting I can't handle this little test?"

"No, but it just might be hard. It's good to be confident but don't let it cloud your judgement. Even the mightiest fall to little mistakes. I can't have you dying here man."

"Huh… Thank you then, Delta."

"No problem." You're a better meat shield than me.

A door opens and we see Tuchanka's surface once again. My helmet faceplate polarizes to shield me from the glare of the sun on the planets ravaged shell. I look at buildings that likely were once magnificent and sturdy, now merely the last remains of the corpse of a dead culture.

I chuckle, muttering "The Krogans are kind of like the Brutes. Nearly bombed themselves back to the stone age." Shepard and Grunt are looking at what seems to be a giant hammer capable of causing small scale earthquakes. The Keystone, which Shepard activates with the press of a tiny button.

"You have a big hammer that is likely to bring death to you, and to show this you just put a little red button at its base. No sense of drama."

"Why would you need drama to fight?" Grunt asks.

"You don't-"

"Then shut up about it."

"Still, someone's gotta have fun with this. I mean it's a fight, usually in a fight you get down and dirty and gritty and sometimes bloody. Maybe after that fight you want to immortalize your accomplishment with a weary, dramatic climb up a short set of stair steps to a single podium with that button in a darkened room, the sun shining through a small hole upon that podium like the holy light of Go-"

"Would you shut up, I'm trying to listen!" Shepard barks out. She turns and starts to walk to the platform where we'll be fighting, the voice of a krogan echoing out from the speakers around us while Varren suddenly jump the walls separating our area from the wasteland that is Tuchanka. They al roar and charge us, only to be dispatched quickly by focused shotgun blasts and automatic fire. A rather boring fight really, there were a lot of them but they were mostly just nuisance-OOF! WHAT THE HELL?!

A Varren had snuck up and jumped me while I was distracted, knocking me onto the floor and my Locust to the side. It snarls and snaps at me, scratching at my faceplate while my head is instinctively tucked to my chest, denying it a chance to bite at my neck which it constantly tries to reach. Smart little bastard.

"Time to put you down Spot" I say with a grunt, activating one plasma blade and stabbing into its shoulder. It roars and rears up a bit in pain which I take advantage of by headbutting it then driving my other blade into its head. I shove it off of me as it dies and grab my Locust before standing again to see everyone standing and watching me.

"No help?"

"You were fine." Says Grunt.

"It was kind of funny to watch actually. You were muttering and cursing into your mike." Tali puts in as well. Mordin and Shepard just look disinterested and Shepard goes over to the keystone to call up our next test. I keep quiet, not really having anything to say and because I don't want Shepard to hit me if she misses the next monologue. I merely whistle to myself while the Keystone rises up to slam down again and send out a big shaking pulse along the ground. I look around; not really seeing anything until a large bug-dragon thing flies in front of us and lands on the ground, roaring before lifting off and flying out of sight. Then more bug things come from where it landed, known as Klixen. They looked like big, thin beetle-ant hybrids with antennae shaped like the horns of a bull. They were a deep blood red color, lightened by the sun of Tuchanka with beady yellow eyes. They seemed to always make a hissing noise as well, slowly crawling up to us on their four claw legs and breathing fire when anyone got too close. After someone managed to make a killing blow the dad klixen would start to swell up and fall then explode.

These guys were much more of a nuisance to deal with. And so messy.

"Maybe we can recruit our next teammate with this situation. Join Shepard and you get to kill people all over the goddamn galaxy. Even on the shitty Tuchankan wasteland. Ow! OW!" I got knocked by Grunt into a Klixen, which then blew up from my body crushing its head in and blasted me back behind the group with its explosion, my shields now beeping in warning.

"Grunt!" Shepard says angrily, still shooting the klixen that try to flood us. He merely does as his namesake and continues to shoot the bugs.

I groan, getting up slowly as my shields start to recharge. Even with my armor on the fuckers a ton heavier than me, with most of that being more muscle. A quick shot from my Viper puts down a Klixen at range while two of the bug-dragon things come and drop more. I'm hoping this is the last wave of these guys. I use the rest of the clip to take out a few while everyone else switches to assault rifles or smgs to take down as many as they can, concentrating fire with Shepard. They fall relatively quickly but 2 still managed to get in close range so Grunt and Tali take out their shotguns and try to shoot them while avoiding the fire they spew out. Once the last two are dead, blown up and the Harvesters are nowhere to be seen everyone takes a second to breathe out in relief. Grunt seems excited for what will come next.

"You know, I kinda feel sorry for those guys. It must really hurt them, having to barf out fire all the time in an attempt to survive."

"Are you really getting guilty over a giant bug instead of the numerous people we killed?" Shepard says, walking over to the keystone to activate it once more.

"No, but if I was my argument would be that they were insects, incapable of knowing just exactly what they were doing and only able to understand the thoughts of the hivemind. The people we've killed on the other hand definitely were aware they had been doing something wrong, whether they chose to acknowledge it or not." We stumble as this slam of the keystone turns out to be a lot stronger and more pronounced than its last two, thoroughly rocking the earth below us.

"I think that one hit China."

"We're not even on Earth anymore Delta."

"That's how strong it was!" I respond. Shepard stares at me. "You know you'd miss me after a while. Why's the ground still shaking?" I ask, looking at my feet and feeling the trembles of the earth. Everyone looks down too, slowly lifting their eyes to the front of the platform as the trembles get stronger and start to converge on that point. The trembles suddenly stop and we all glance at each other, still watching the space warily. A tense few seconds pass and no one has relaxed.

"Well that was anti-climac-" A huge Thresher Maw bursts out of the ground, sending dirt and debris flying up into the air and crashing down around the keystone, roaring its giant armored head out while its tongue lolls out like that of a serpent's. I'm knocked down almost immediately by a large stone that looked like part of a building. "Oh sonuvabitch!"

Shepard yells out and everyone scatters as the Thresher spews its acid at us, myself shielded by the debris and saved from the initial assault. I shove the rock off and roll to the side to avoid a second shot then scramble behind a large stone pillar beside Tali. "Sometimes I really hate how Shepard triggers Murphy's law so often…"

Tali's voice is colored with slight disbelief and amusement "Sometimes?"

"Most times its actually pretty damn fun if you have the right tools. Like this for example." I say while pulling something out of my hardcase. It looks like the hilt of a sword with a circular guard and thick pyramidal drill bit looking head. With a press of a button the drill bit spreads open, each face of the pyramid separating from each other until the device starts to look like an open Hookshot from LoZ with yellow glowing nodes at the tip of each piece. I activate my flight pack while Tali looks at it in confusion and curiosity then zoom up into the sky and flip around once or twice to attract the attention of the Thresher.

"Hey, mutant worm, you dropped a rock on me. That shit hurt." The Thresher just heaves as a large glob of acid and mucus spit shoots at me. I do a tight barrel roll while flying forward to evade it, some errant acid spittle grazing and burning at my shields for a second. Once close the Thresher closes its mouth and tries to slam me with its head but I dodge it narrowly as it moved faster than I anticipated. Still, I wasn't about to be outdone by some mutant, fatass, nightcrawler. So, I flew up and behind, staying out of sight as often as I could while taunting it and making it turn its back on the rest of the team who began spraying it with rounds from their weapons but were doing little gradual damage against its armored back. As soon as I saw the chance I took it, getting out of sight and flying directly above its head and activating my cloak to be invisible for the last split second I needed to drop. I land on it, just behind the thick flanging crest on the Thresher maw's head that covers a surprisingly soft looking piece of flesh that seems to separate the head from the body. Hm, guess it was better to have this unarmored for more mobility for its head since the crest was enough to protect this small section. It'd be very difficult to get a shot in, especially if you didn't know what you were aiming at as well.

But open flesh means exposed nerve endings so!

I take out my open hookshot-ish device and jam it into the exposed skin, the drill bit part tearing through easily and flanging out more to secure it's position like an oversized tick that won't fall off even though its bloated to the size of a freakin grape. I jump off as the Thresher roars in pain and then fly over to the platform, standing atop one of the pillars at the front while I activate my tac-pad and run the program written so recently.

"Simon says sit."

The Thresher Maw stops roaring and just whimpers while curling up in what seems like a rest position. I roar in triumph and jump back over to it, sitting on the front of it's crest this time with my hands up in a victory 'V' formation. Everyone else is just staring at me.

"HAHA! I have tamed a goddamn Thresher Maw! Run Collectors run, because when we get to your base you are getting a faceful of fucking Thresher acid spit! Choke on that you overgrown, cockroach, shit-for-brains, kidnapping fucktards! Choke on it!" I continue to laugh maniacally as the Thresher's mouth continues to gape, drool and acid dripping to the floor occasionally, the acid making a caustic hiss and steam rise with each drop.

"Delta suggest rapid movement." Mordin yells out.

"HAHAHA-huh? Why, OH MY GOD!" I yell, pausing in my maniacal, power corrupted laughter to jump and fly as far away from my perch/new steed/mega minion as Shepard, quite calmly and collectedly, blasts a carefully aimed ball of mini-nuclear death straight into the Thresher Maw's gullet from her M920 Cain. The Thresher's head explodes in a shower of scorched and seared shell armor with most of its guts and blood vaporized. Ironic that the shell grown over years of development and nurture ensured its death by containing what it attempted to keep out. The Thresher's shell was so good at bouncing off things that would damage it, it was very effective at containing the blast inside the Thresher's body where all its soft tissue was subjected to the pure, undiluted and unmitigated wrath of Shepard's attack.

"Buh…I….Muh….Wuh, wuh, wuh, whyyyy" I stutter, close to tears. Shepard just does an about face and walks towards where a shuttle flies in and heads to land. I merely gape at the blown, seared and scattered remains of what was to be my strongest organic ally and weapon who oddly smells like a summer BBQ when killed and seared.

Tali comes up beside me "You know, she probably would've let you keep it if you didn't sound so insane."

I don't respond for a little while before sighing and dropping my head "No she wouldn't…"

"Yeah, there's no way in hell she would've." Tali agrees. I just sigh again and start walking towards Shepard, Grunt, and Mordin who are talking to Uvenk. "You seem to have some kind of extreme preference for things that are extremely dangerous. You have your own AI, a hijacked Geth colossus and now you tried to control a Thresher Maw."

"Not tried. I did. Shepard just blew him up before I did more. Along with the control module itself."

"Look on the bright side. Your flight pack is working admirably well."

"Well, that is a good thing…" I look up and raise my Locust while Tali pulls up her Scimitar and we both shoot in unison a Krogan who tries to flank Grunt and Shepard while they charge Uvenk and his main group of goons. I take out my Viper and assist from range while Tali moves closer to help with her shotgun and pistol. It's a lot faster taking down Uvenk and his krantt than fighting those klixen. Damn klixen. Damn Krogan. Damn dead Thresher maw not having the sense of mind that I stole control of for not thinking to close its mouth. Damn me for not making it close it's damn mouth! Wait, no, damn something besides myself, I don't want to be damned. Damned thoughts, stop damning things.

The fight's over and we head to the hole in the ground that the Shaman climbs out of. He looks over at the dead Thresher maw then looks at us and back to it before exclaiming something in joy. I don't know what it was, because I was too busy reading an inscription on the wall by the keystone saying "_Lots of very small text put something interesting here or whatever_" though it was upside down. Being the grammar nazi I am, I used my plasma dagger edge to place a comma between "text" and "put". After that I wrote "Delta came, he saw, he kicked ass. Vote Udina for the Asshole of Humanity award," below it. That seems like an interesting thing. Alright, lets move on now, the smell of BBQ/dead cooked Thresher Maw is making me hungry. I follow the others down the stairs and into the tomkah while two others behind us roll up and a bunch of Krogans climb out, running up the hole with grappling hooks.

The ride back is long and quiet which became somewhat odd since everyone stared at me at some point or another. Or so Silver says, I fell asleep halfway through the first minute of sitting down and he kept locking certain parts of the armor to keep me up straight so I wouldn't get any cramps or cricks in my neck and such. I didn't even know I was tired but I should have guessed since the Thresher smell made me so hungry; whenever I get hungry I get sleepy and when I get sleepy I get hungry. It's a vicious, evil cycle that I cannot break. Though Wrex's booming voice was a good alarm clock.

"Shepard! It's good to see you survived. I didn't really expect anything else but killing a Thresher Maw? Magnificent!"

"You have completed the Rite. You can now be given full clan status as Grunt, do you wish to join Clan Urdnot?" Asks the Shaman standing next to Wrex. Grunt steps away from the two to the edge of the little chief platform and stares out at the camp. One can only imagine what's going through his head, probably a bunch of things about how this camp is shit, the planet's shit, some of these krogans have shitfor brains and oh god I think I stepped in Varren shit.

"Shit!"

"Shut up Delta."

Grunt turns back and only lets out an irritated snort before looking directly at Wrex "I will."

The Shaman nods "Then from now on you are Urdnot Grunt. You have full clan status and will be allowed to own property, enlist under a battlemaster and receive breeding requests." Grunt and the others give their equivalent of a smile then Shepard and Wrex begin talking about idle things, a comment on how Uvenk will not be missed is slipped in and the Mordin intervenes with worry about Maelon.

Congrats Grunt, you can now fight and die or be pimped out to whatever female krogan gets horny for the night. It's kind of a shame though how this genophage thing has all the krogans separated. Judging from the one conversation I heard between those two Krogan beside the shop the whole gun/battle/death fascination of their culture tends to not interfere with all the fatherly ties and stuff. Which is weird because looking at Wrex and Wreav I think that in Krogan culture its sacred and loving between father and son but if you're brothers the usual exchange for morning greetings seems to go like "Go fuck yourself you tiny pistol'd twat" and "Choke on it pebble-humped bastard". I can only imagine what krogan version of "The Brady Bunch" would be like. I'd say the film crew would be dead in a day.

"Alright, we'd better get on with rescuing Maelon. Come on you guys, lets go." Shepard says, heading off the platform and to the tomkahs to hitch a ride to the next place for us to rescue Mordin's assistant. Ooh joy, more killing and fighting… as if the last job didn't have enough. Aw well I'll just spend the ride doing something more productive, like writing up the schematics for the things Humanity's going to need to fight the Reapers when they come. Or that toy I have planned for when we go to the Collector base. Or watching the playthrough of ME3 my other self is doing.

Or I could check out the video feed Tim has from the bugs planted in the women's bathroom.

…

Oh my lord.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: and there's the newest chapter!<strong>

**Delta: THRESHY! HE WAS SOO YOOUUUNNGG! (bawls his eyes out in the corner)**

**Me: Delta's still rather broken up about it. Maybe finding Maelon and doing some other shenanigans. If not there's always my usual problem. (holds up and gazes lovingly at a mallet) Anyway, we'll see you guys again shortly with another update. Until then, PEACE!**

**Delta: THRESHYYYY!**

**Me: I'm about to get some for myself... (walks towards Delta with his mallet raised threateningly)**


	18. Changing Hobbies

**Me: Guess who's back-back-back, back again-gain-gain, Delta's back-back-back, tell yo friends-friends-friends. Yes he's back, Yes he's back, yes he's back, Yes he's back, yes he's ba-**

**Delta: SHUT UP THEY GET IT! So damn annoying with that song!**

**Me: I'm happy for the new update…**

**Delta: I'd be happy if you'd shut it. You just prattle on about nothing half the time and then do annoying shit the other half!**

**Me: Hey, my prattling does wonders for my literary side and creative strikes. You dare to critique my method? I am your master! I own you! I own this building! As a matter of fact, fuck this building! (****blows it up****)**

**Delta: …You do know that was your donut bakery right?**

**Me: OH GOD WHY! I'm so sorry precious rings of glazed doughy deliciousness! Lord take me noowwww! (cries hysterically)**

**Delta: (sigh) Zero612 does not own Mass Effect or Halo, both games and universes belong to Bioware and Microsoft respectively. Zero612 owns the OC's and a large amount of burnt and disfigured donuts.**

**Me: MY BABIES!**

**Delta: I need a drink…**

Changing Hobbies

Wow, ME3 was absolutely awesome! The fights, the progression, characters, all so cool! Too bad it eventually showed to be a big waste of time. I haven't even gotten to the end yet though but it really sucks knowing what the little effect the choices I (and Shepard) actually make here in the long run. Murphy's Law seems to work damn fine but the Butterfly Effect apparently turned to bullshit overnight…

Aw well, it's a good thing I multitasked with that secret footage. Speaking of which, oh Midshipman Joan, such a scandalous shower routine. You dirty dirty girl, go ahead and use more soap.

"Delta"

"W-What?!" I respond in a slight panic.

"We're nearly at the Weyrloc clans hospital. Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"No, I suddenly came down with an intense case of cancer. I have 2 minutes to live."

"You're fine."

"Bleh" I drop my head and go as limp as I can, which doesn't last long as a couple seconds later a large bump in the road forces me into the bulkhead and I curl up in pain as my head rings inside my helmet from the impact. "Hijo di puta!"

"I hope we don't have to go through too much trouble this time."

"I do too but I doubt it. What do you humans call it? Uh, Murphy's Law I think, always seems to be in high effect around you." Tali said, slight mirth in her voice.

"You got that right." Shepard is less amused.

The vehicle stops at a door and weapons locker while we all get out, Tali and Shepard first before Mordin goes. Unfortunately the order for the last two was not decided unconsciously so ended up like this.

"Back the fuck up you huge-ass lizard!"

"You move tiny human! Being so near to you makes my scales itch already but this is unbearable"

"I'm not the one who shoved himself into another's bubble! Why the fuck would you try to leave at the same time as me?!"

"I am perfect Krogan! You should have paid attention when I tried to leave instead of focusing on wedging yourself between me and the wall!"

"Perfect my ass, you weren't spouting this shit when you were high as fuck yesterday! Speaking of which you stole my weed! You owe me 150 credits for that, that was high quality shit!"

"I owe you nothing!"

"I owe you an asskicking which you will get ahead of time if you don't back the fuck up!"

"Why don't you move back and make way for me!"

"I can't fucking move retard! Your fatass is crushing my spine against the doorframe!" I buckle suddenly as a hard, swift punch to the gut leaves me winded. When my shoulder moves forward a bit it's grabbed and yanked so I fall forward out of the door and land facefirst onto the Tuchankan ground. I groan then yell out in pain as a split second later Grunt lands on my back.

"There, now you're both out." Shepard says, irritation evident in her voice.

"I think he broke my spine…"

"Scans display no serious trauma to your body Delta-Specialist."

I throw my elbow back and heave to shove Grunt off me. "It still hurts like hell. And how could I not, fat ass just fell on me."

"Sufficient mass, insufficient momentum."

"Hear that, even my AI knows you're fat. And slow."

"I've rushed into battle at speeds faster than you!" Grunt said indignantly getting up.

"You're still slow." I say getting up myself. Grunt glares at me since I took off my helmet and was rolling my neck. We both yelped in pain as Grunt was grabbed by the largest formed portion of his forehead plates and I was getting yanked along by my ear by Shepard towards the door.

"Both of you shut up from now on. You will only speak when spoken to and I don't want you fighting or talking to each other at any point during this mission unless it involves tactics. Am I clear?"

"You'll make me deaf if you keep yanking so har-OW!"

"I said am I clear!?"

"Yes ma'am!" We both said as the grip intensified then let go. I clutched my ear while Grunt rubbed his brow plates, growling a little which died in his throat as Shepard turned her glare to him. At that point everyone just quietly followed her to out the door and onto a broken highway leading up to the hospital where the Weyrloc clan resided. The debris had fallen to make a wall and hole in the road that resembled a U-turn which we followed. As soon as we turned the bend we heard a skitter and then dropped back as two red Klixen immediately started breathing fire at us. I emptied the rounds of my locust into one with Tali's assistance via shotgun while Grunt, Mordin and Shepard handled the other. The two Klixen crumpled and blew up before Shepard walked by them and continued along the path.

"Two benefits of a helmet Grunt. Your head is covered and protected instead of being out in the open like an idiot's. And if you're told to shut up, you can just turn off your speakers and mic." I chuckle, loving my soundproofed helmet seals and the ability to turn off said speakers. I can talk and no one can hear it.

"Delta, what did I say about you talking!" Shepard barks out, head turning to the side slightly to look at me from the corner of her eye.

How does she know!? I have the speakers and mic off!

"We did not inform Shepard-Commander of your speech." Silver says.

I turn my speakers back on "Ok, how can you tell so easily? It's kinda creepy."

A glare is my answer. "Duly noted." I turn the speaker back off. "Man she's scary sometimes…" I look up and notice some Varren running towards us, who are swiftly being shot at by Shepard and the others while I stand still, watching the mutant alien dogs fall dead within a second.

"1.3 seconds until deceased. The targets withstood for .7 seconds and took another .6 to fully die according to scans."

"Wait, so I can shoot a guy, and you can tell me how long it takes for them to die?"

"In general we could. For in-depth analysis stronger hardware or implanted devices would be needed."

"Does that mean I have to have a radar box shoved up their butt first or?"

"Delta! Pay attention!" I look to see Shepard and the others are several meters ahead and I jog a bit to catch up. Soon as I do two Vorcha blood pack boom squad open fire on us, one using an Avenger and the other shooting with his rocket launcher. We all duck behind cover and I duck back behind the wall we passed, backtracking while listening to the fire from them. I lift off the ground some and peek over the wall, which was pretty high and see I'm behind the two. With a smirk I add extra power to the nearly noiseless flight pack and float over the wall before dropping down quickly, plasma blades extended. The rocket launcher guy just crouched down to reload and yells out quickly before a sizzling gurgle comes from his throat. His friend looks over at me in surprise, my other blade embedded in his lower back but then his head is blown off by focused fire from Shepard and Mordin. I extract both my blades and look towards the bridge they were guarding, seeing some Vorcha and Varren milling about.

"You know with this flight pack, if I had a rapid fire rpg launcher I could strafe em."

"Speaking of the flight pack, I'm surprised you're not floating around the whole place like a little bosh'tet who discovered flight." Tali says, a hand on her hip while the other holds her shotgun on her shoulder. Looks kinda sexy.

"I've considered it, filed it away, reconsidered it, took a coffee break, opened the case, solved it, considered it a third time and then did jazz hands before thinking 'no'."

"Jazz hands?"

"A very effective hand gesture in the right situations."

"Delta…" Shepard said warningly.

"You said no speaking unless spoken to."

"Here's a new order. Don't be a smartass and answer things seriously!" She turns and walks forward, picking up the rocket launcher and shoving it into my hands. "Now get in the air, and use the rest of the ammo to take out whoever you can."

"Yes ma'am…" I fly up quickly and heft the launcher onto my shoulder, spying a couple Vorcha hiding behind some debris and occasionally poking out. I fire a rocket, watching it careen towards them before impacting against the rock and fragmenting it a bit. With three rockets still left I fire a second one and start reloading the other two when I see a Vorcha pop up out of cover from a rock just below the one I'm firing at, his gun raised and pointed at me with a glare going straight into my eyes. Or at least it would if his head hadn't popped up straight into the rocket's path. I fire another rocket at his chest while he staggers from the force of the explosion. Now with my last rocket I see a mostly intact tomkah. I smirk and fly over, grab the internal combustion part the engineer back at Urdnot camp wanted and flew up while aiming at the mostly intact guts of the vehicle then fire a rocket into it.

The explosion was…much larger than I anticipated. I drop the rocket launcher and spy a Vorcha pyro and his buddy down a small side road we're going to take. I shrug and unholster my Viper, my flight pack holding steady in the air as I look through the scope. I notice Shepard and the others moving forward up the road and I take the shot, hitting the Pyro's tank which ignites as its pierced and soon blows up on him.

I float over to the side and see a group of Vorcha with some boom squad as well setting up in an open area in front of the entrance to the hospital. Shepard and the others move along the road towards them, not seeing the group as they are covered by the large wall of debris separating them.

"Shepard, you have a large group of Vorcha trying to bar your way into the hospital. They're set in behind some barricades and have a couple rocket users among them. Be careful of your fire though, there are some explosive canisters in the area."

"Got it, thanks for the info." Shepard responds, approaching the corner of the wall more cautiously as I see a couple Krogan step out as well.

"Shepard, two krogan have just joined their forces. I see a good little barricade a few feet to the right of where you'll enter from, get there quick to secure it."

"I see them. Good advice, Tali, Mordin you two with me initially, Grunt you're charging those Krogan when they get close. Time it well and they're all yours. Delta, can you set up a sniper position?"

"Can I?"

"We have run simulations and determine it is possible. You can remain in flight if at a hover using low energy, therefore allowing us to also utilize the active camouflage system of your armor and lock sections of it to augment your aim."

"Do it." I feel my gauntlets and joints get a little more rigid as I looked down the scope of my Viper. I changed targets regularly, only breaking away to watch Shepard move to her barricade under fire, her shields keeping her safe until the bullets started chipping at the debris. The two Krogan start to move around the side of the area to flank Shepard, unknowingly getting closer to the area where Grunt awaits to ambush.

"Paint a target." The two boom squad Vorcha are highlighted red in my HUD along with another Vorcha who I hear occasional commands and jeers from, assumingly the captain of this group. My rifle cracks as the rounds fly out, heading straight to the head of one of the boom squad Vorcha. He lets out a cry and growls while dropping to the floor dead, his friend roaring out before being silenced by the second shot I fired into his mouth. I take my eyes off the target for a second to notice Grunt charge out from his spot and tackle one of the Krogan before headbutting him into the ground as he drew his shotgun, blasting away while getting up and lashing out a heavily armored foot against the second one at his back. He roared before smashing the butt of his gun into the other Krogan's face. I look back into the scope and make a quick adjustment before shooting, taking out the captain of the Vorcha. The rest go into disarray and fire off angrily for a few seconds, which are all Shepard needs for her, Tali, and Mordin to finish them off easily.

Shepard does a quick sweeping look around the area before calling me down as Grunt moves by her side, smiling to himself after his successful kills. I holster my Viper and take out my PR, looking from the krogan to the door leading into the hospital. We enter the hospital and go to our left, down the stairs a bit to the first landing where there's a human corpse.

"Dead human, swell. The hell is this doing here?"

Mordin kneels down beside the body and scans it with his omnitool "Contusions and absrasions show signs of restraint. Injection sites reveal experimentation. Likely died as a result. Tragic."

"Why a human?" Cuz they're racist! "Why not use local species like Varren for experiments?" Shepard asks.

"Human genome very interesting. Unlike Salarian, Turian, or Asari it has a much higher level of diversity. More highs and lows on the genetic spectrum and as a result humans react stronger to smaller stimuli, much easier to pinpoint certain reactions to compounds when humans are used."

See? Diversity is something to be proud of. We are the best test monkeys in the galaxy because of it.

"Who was this guy? Any ID on him?"

"Don't know. Can't say. We must push further and stop this." Mordin says with a nod.

Shepard nods as well and continues down the stairs, stepping to the side to pick up some refined iridium. I start walking down the hallway and find a door, opening it before the others catch up to arrive in a foyer looking area with a large gas tank under a platform. Shepard and the others step up beside me just as a Krogan and two guards of his step out onto the platform from the door behind it.

"I am the speaker of Clan Weyrloc and we demand that you leave immediately."

"We're not leaving until we get back Maelon safely."

"BAH! The Salarian is of too much importance to us! His work will remove our clan the curse of the genophage and allow us to make a glorious revival! Soon, our children and numbers will tower above those of our rival clans and we will crush them! When we do, Tuchanka will ours and clan Weyrloc will exact revenge upon the Turians and the Salarians! We will destroy the Turians unlike any have done before! We will feast on the eggs of the Salarian broods as a delicacy to our people! We will take over the Asari's hold on the Citadel and sit in-

I turn to Shepard and heft my PR "May I? please?"

"Fine."

With a smile I lift my Plasma Repeater and hold down the trigger, firing bolt after bolt of superheated plasma at the speaker who yells in pain with each impact. I keep firing, watching the plasma melt through his chest armor and into his torso before trailing the shots upward to focus more on his face, melting the bones and skin of his head until it starts to slag and sink in while he staggers back and falls on his back dead.

With a childish voice I say, while venting the heat from the shots from my weapon, "Shut the fuck up."

The other two guards stare in horror and surprise at their fallen leader before turning to us for a fight only to be surprised again by me flying straight into them with my arms outstretched, fingers curved in a hook with two blue glowing orbs in each of them. "HUGS OF **DEATH!**" The guards yell out as I hug them, simultaneously stabbing my armored fingers into their back humps, depositing the orbs which flash blue before flying away as they explode, pushing them forward from the force to die facedown. At this point Vorcha and some other Krogan come out of the door and look in shock between their 3 dead leaders and the armored floating boy before being startled as Shepard and Grunts assault fire, and Tali and Mordin's SMG rounds start tearing into their shields from the side. The Vorcha are taken down easily but the remaining 2 Krogan put up a bit of a tougher fight. I landed beside Shepard, shooting my pistol into the browplate of one Krogan who drops dead after the seventh shot finally punches through the armor and gets a lucky shot on its brain.

"Alright that's all of em. Tali, would you mind getting that iridium for me?"

"Sure Shepard."

"Mordin, Grunt, check their bodies for medi-gel and clips."

"Got it Battlemaster"

"Delta-"

"Wow, for such large brains these guys are pretty frickin retarded." I say, looking at an anatomy diagram of a Krogan Silver downloaded from a terminal in the hospital. The brain of a Krogan seems to actually be large enough that some is stored in the hump. Its more like a second brain too really, a minor part that can provide emergency control if the first is damaged by a minor concussion or something. Oddly enough I'm not so surprised because practically everything in a Krogan has a backup. "Congratulations Grunt, you are part of a species with the most paranoid bodies."

Cue the Shepard head smack.

"Delta, give me your weapons and scout ahead and keep scouting until you find enemies."

"I'm assuming you want me to dispose of them?"

"Negative, you are to distract and delay until we get there to provide assistance. Get going."

I hand over my weapons with a frown. "You just want to know I'm getting shot at…"

"No, of course not." Well, I pissed her off. "Get going."

"Yes ma'am." I sigh and walk ahead of the group, going past terminals with interesting upgrades and crates of resources that could be useful, tagging each for Shepard to see on her HUD. It's all uneventful until I find a little room with a single Krogan dressed in hospital scrubs. We stare at each other, me with my visor up and him with a depressed emo look on his lizard face.

"…"

"…"

"You know, some lotion would do wonders for that ashy complexion." He only blinks and stares up at me before shaking his head with a grunt and looking back to the floor.

"It was a joke you're supposed to laugh."

"What is there to laugh about? I failed my clan and am too weak to help them now…"

"What do you mean?"

"I was an Urdnot scout. I was supposed to scout the Weyrloc clans home and return undetected but because of my weakness I was caught! I thought they would kill me but then I found out a way to help my clan still."

"How?"

"Here they inject me with needles and give me drugs. They say it'll help cure the genophage. Then because of my help they'll give the cure to Urdnot, and we can be cured of it as well!"

"Well that's bull."

"W-what?"

"They wouldn't give the genophage cure to Urdnot. Why do that instead of hold it to themselves so they can grow 10 times as fast and eventually just destroy Urdnot? They're rival clans after all aren't they?"

"Well…yeah, but they promised!"

"Tell me buddy, what's to stop you from breaking a promise you might've made to someone? Don't you owe a guy credits or something, or a drink or whatever? And how many times have you come up straight and gave it to them nstead of saving it to use on yourself? Exactly. They won't do it. The best way to help your clan now would be to go back and tell them then continue your duties as a scout."

"Right…You're right, I'll do that then! Fuck Weyrloc, the lying honorless bastards!"

"Woah, hold up there. You, walking across Tuchanka's surface with nothing but the clothes on your back, your hump and whichever gun you manage to get? Yeah, I don't think so.

"What?!"

"Before I came here you were depressed and whiny like a Quarian with a tummyache. You don't have what it takes to be badass enough to get home by yourself, and I'm willing to bet money on it."

The scout gets to his feet with an angry snarl and points a finger into my visor "Never! Bet on a Krogan's weakness! I will make you lose that bet!"

"Pfft, you've just gone from whiny Quarian to tough guy, not badass."

He shoves me away and steps out of the room, going to a nearby room and rifling around. He finds his scout armor and puts it on as quick as he can before steping back over and shoving me again for good measure as he heads to the Hospital entrance.

"Wait!" He turns around to see me handing over what looks like a vey large Bowie knife I found in a locker. "It's dangerous to go alone. Take this." He looks at it then me before taking the pistol and moving on. I turn around and go forward, moving through one hallway and another before taking a sudden turn as something grabs my interest.

**Back with Shepard**

"Well, at least he found some useful things." Shepard says while downloading the information packet for the upgrade Delta tagged.

Tali walks behind her, putting a new clip in her shotgun "Did you expect him not to actually do anything? For all the times he pisses us off he seems to be equally as efficient and helpful. Makes it hard to completely want him gone."

"You've got that right…" Shepard sighs in acknowledgement. She looks up to see a Krogan coming but pauses at the unusual sight of a Krogan-Bowie knife on his hip, then notices the colors of the Urdnot clan. "Hey, are you the Urdnot scout?"

The Scout looks at them before nodding noticing the other Krogan with the oddly diverse group. "Yes. I didn't know there'd be another human here."

"Another?"

"Yes, the first one, taller, had black and red armor unlike any I've ever seen before. He talked to me, motivated me to get back to Urdnot instead of whining like a Quarian with a tummyache. It angers me how much he was right…"

"Right?"

"About the tummyche. I've actually heard a Quarian whine while they had a tummyache and when I look back on what I've been doing it's so similar. It makes me angry just thinking about it!" He shakes his head and stalks off, leaving the group behind.

"So he's found the scout we were looking for…" Shepard starts.

" 'A quarian with a tummyache'? That little bosh'tet…"

Shepard sighs "Let's go find him. I'm actually more worried that he hasn't found anything regarding combat…"

"That just means more for us Battlemaster." Grunt says with some glee.

"That's what I'm afraid of." Shepard hurries her pace a little and they follow the hallways of the Hospital until they come to a large open air stairway that seems to lie in the center of the facility. There are several floors, each with doors leading to different parts and stairs going down to each floor, some covered in rubble, others broken and pockmarked with fallen debris. The first thing Shepard notices in all of this, are the yappings of hostile Varren and the yells of angry Weyrloc Krogan. Oddly enough they seem to be yelling at something that's not Shepard. Then again, that's not very odd now is it?

"BACK! BACK FILTHY MONGRELS AND MASTERS! I HAVE CLAIMED THIS FOR MY OWN!"

"Stupid human that's our bottled water! Return it immediately!"

"NEVER! IT IS HOT AS BALLS OUT HERE AND I NEED IT!" Shepard just facepalms as she watches Delta hold a pack of water bottles under one arm while constantly chucking random objects at the Krogan and Varren. One Varren yells out and falls dead from an expertly placed scalpel that pierced deep in its neck between two vertebrae. One got several chunks of rock to the face then received an oddly placed steel toed boot. The Krogans were all very mad now because their weapons had gotten crushed by rocks and metal chunks tossed by the augmented childish soldier who would only pause to restock on ammo and guzzle down a bottle or two.

**Back with Delta**

I am going to be taking such a long break after this. Oh sweet, sweet, arrowhead water. What the hell are you doing on Tuchanka I will not know or even care. Just that you are sweet, here, and cold for my consumption. "FUCK OFF!" Oh crap, I don't think I have any more rocks to throw… They're still not close enough for my blades either. Well, maybe if I goad them enough they'll charge in but hopefully not all at once.

"HEY KROGANS! YOUR FATHERS WERE WHINY LITTLE BITCHES THAT MOANED ABOUT BULLET WOUNDS LIKE A QUARIAN DOES ABOUT A GERM!" Hah that ought to piss em off eno-OMG THEY'RE ALL CHARGING. I grab my pack of water and scramble back as the Krogans all charged at me before dropping to the ground under combined gunfire from Shepard, Mordin, Tali, and Grunt who are currently crossing a bridge to get where I am. Huh, good timing. With all but two Krogans down but heavily injured I ignite my plasma blades and jam them into their skulls before twisting and yanking them out, making the two drop to the floor finally dead.

"Well, that was convenient." I smile then am smacked on the back of my head with the butt of a shotgun. It hurts a lot more with my helmet off…

"You little bosh'tet, why do you keep making insults like that?"

"Ow! That's my bare head you could give me a concussion if you keep doing that-HEY HEY!" I crouch and try to move away as Tali raises her shotgun for another strike while I replace my helmet quickly and hoist the water pack on my back a little higher.

Shepard chuckles "So what were you saying earlier Tali?" Tali just turns to her with a glare but Shepard shakes it off with another chuckle while moving forward. "Let's get Maelon." Mordin is quick to agree while moving with her. I fall into step beside Tali since Grunt moves ahead as pointman.

"You gotta admit, it's a very effective analogy for pissing off Krogans." Tali's glare turns to me. "Yeah yeah, you have a shotgun, I know."

We go to another open-air atrium stairway place soon and see even more Krogan and Varren than before. At this point Shepard has given me back my weapons and everyone has taken a water bottle except Tali. So I have to restock later... Anyway, I take out my Viper and crouch down, creeping out with my active camoflauge on to remain out of sight while checking out the area. I note several Krogan on the same level as us with a few Vorcha standing guard. Ignoring the Vorcha as targets I look down and see the Weyrloc clans own chief, the IFF confirming him as Chief Guld, patrolling the lowest level and bridge, likely by the door that leads to Maelon. Well then, biotic barriers and a krogans health. This wont be tough at all if I sneak through ri-

"Fuck, my goddamn knee! OH this hurts like a motherfucker!" I yell out, unstealthing and clutching my knee that a krogan just kicked instead of the pillar behind it. "Are you retarded, why are you kicking random pillars!?"

The Krogan blinks in surprise before realizing I'm the enemy just as I do the same. He rounds his shotgun on me but my arms already up, plasma blade out and slicing his gun in half before jamming the point straight into his browplates. A loud sizzle is heard as the plasma cuts and melts through the bone while I push up with my other foot and climb up the Krogan's leg to put more force behind the blade which is driven into his brain. During this the Krogan scrabbled at me and started to charge to the pillar but died before enough force could be put into his legs to really harm me. And then served as a pleasant meat shield for his buddies who opened fire on me.

"Open Fire" yells Shepard, popping out of cover with Tali, Grunt and Mordin to shoot into the group, mowing them down easily as fire was first concentrated on the krogans then the Vorcha. Some Varren run from below along with the lower level reinforcements and the battlemaster. A few of them are picked off from Shepard's higher vantage point but they're safe when they reach the stairs so everyone digs in.

"Delta, now's the time to get out"

"Alright, gimme a second I just found something really cool." I dash out and sit next to Shepard with something coarse, rough, and slightly damp in my hand.

"It's a rock."

"Meow"

"Did that rock just 'meow'?!" Shepard exclaims. The rock trembles as two eye stalks poke out from the center.

"Yeah! It's a baby brown klixen! I just found it in the corner! I named him Gary."

"…Do I even want to ask why?"

"It'd be best for all if you didn't. Silver has gotten quite the information on him in short notice. They're a rare sub-species of Klixen at this time, mainly because they are more sedentary and less likely to attack though they do have the same methods of hunting and killing."

"Delta, lets not deal with your odd hobby of picking up EVERY animal we come across now, especially when there are Krogan SHOOTING AT US." On cue the Krogans open fire just as soon as they get off the stairs.

"Oh no! Gary, save us!" I toss Gary over at the Krogans and duck behind cover with Shepard.

**With Gary**

Weightless. The shell doesn't hurt anymore and the odd warmth is gone, replaced by unsteady, ungrippable air. 6 little segmented legs skitter through the air before suddenly finding purchase and the snail stops immediately, legs latched onto this new purchase. The eye stalks go out slowly to find itself staring at the back of a Krogan's head, legs attached and digging tightly into its hump. Several sounds come from nearby, seeming to be confused as grunts are heard before more shots are fired. This all goes far over the creatures head as the eye stalks look up slightly to see the blue orb that glows and slowly sizzles while attached to the surface of its shell.

"meow" BOOOM!

**Back to Delta**

Yells of pain, surprise, and anger are heard as two krogans drop dead; heads nearly obliterated and bodies crumpling as Delta comes up and opens fire on one injured Krogan who dies shortly after, burns covering the side and back of his hump. The other team looks at the disarray and almost simultaneously demand

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"

"Um, I think Gary pooted."I say. Everyone stares at me before a rock suddenly crashes down on my head. "OW" Upon closer inspection though, "GARY! You're alive!"

"Meow!" "And you're stuck to my head…. Crap." Well, at least he's not impeding my sight. On this note, headshots for everyone! I drop back and pull out my Viper, sniping the head of Battlemaster Guld before he's charged by Grunt. Guld grunts as his barriers drop some while Shepard, Tali and Mordin attack the other Krogan. Grunt and Guld shoot at each other while I snipe at whatever part of Guld's not covered by Grunt. After 3 shots I just sigh and holster the viper while drawing my Plasma repeater and closing some of the distance to avoid raining fiery bolts of liquid pain on Grunt. A bit. Just as I lift my gun up I see Grunt raised into the air biotically and swear under my breath before diving for the side. Sadly I wasn't fast enough since Grunt's large body crashed into my side and the two of us were slammed into the ground. Grunt groans and I try to judge whether my spine's been broken.

"2 upper ribs cracked."

"Thank you Silver…" I yelp as I feel the pain in my left side and a sting after before a soothing gel is applied. "And FUCK you Guld!" Grunt manages to get off me quickly and I crouch up, shooting at Guld with my plasma repeater, grunting and wincing as my ribs protest with each shake of the guns recoil coursing through my body. Grunt charges, the stream of the projectile equivalent of blue magma to his side and stopping before he slams shoulder-first into Guld, knocking him against the wall. I watch the two duke it out for a while, guns ignore in favor of bellowing, flying spittle and meaty fists slamming into faces, arms, knees, legs, humps, foreheads, gu-OUCH! Right in the quad!

Guld's knee comes down the same time as his head, knocking the tightlipped Grunt down to the ground. I scowl and activate my blades, extending them further and longer by about a foot as Silver reroutes some power to the magnetic field generator. With my blades more like short swords than small daggers I charge forward and jump up before slicing down towards Guld. He backs up but his barrier catches the edge of one blade with sizzles and sparks. Seems his biotics make the field unstable… this ought to be interesting.

I had some fun here.

Guld tries to duck and weave away from my strikes. Each time they get near his body the field destabilizes and plasma sparks and flies off randomly, making sweet looking splashes of sizzling blue plasma splatter on the walls and floors around us. With one knee to the gut and a stab to the arm the puncture shows his barrier's down. At this I smirk, the magnetic field stabilized once more as his biotics fade out.

"uh oh" I say before pulling the blade out and slicing into the shoulder quickly. As I do Guld yells out and charges me, successfully impaling himself on my left blade as I shorten my right one then jam it into his hump. I cut a neat little niche then grab a plasma grenade and embed it into it. I fall back, rolling backwards along the floor before lifting my left arm straight and pointing the fist at Guld's hump. With a thought, the field reshapes into a long needle like blade that fills with plasma quickly, making it look like it's extending from my body at amazing speed into the node of the grenade and detonating it immediately. I cover my helmet visor with my arm as the explosion goes off, covering me in small bursts of drying blood and the smell of burnt scales. "Well, that was nastier than I expected…"

Shepard helps Grunt up while Tali does the same for me. Mordin is meanwhile heading down a hallway hopefully leading to the room where our reason for this whole mission lies. I pat my head as I stand up, tapping gary's shell. "We'll find out more about you later on."

**Weyrloc Laboratory**

"Maelon. Alive. Unharmed." Mordin says in surprise, walking towards a Salarian standing in front of a wide and large holographic display of charts, biological readings, and anatomical displays; assumingly from the subjects contained in the three bio-tubes situated behind the holographic screen. "No signs of restraint, No evidence of torture. Don't understand."

A mere glance over the shoulder is given before he retorts. "For such a smart man, Professor, you always had trouble seeing evidence that disagreed with your preconceptions." He turns around, looking straight at Mordin as he speaks. "How long will it take you to admit I'm here because I wish to be here?"

"The Blood pack never kidnapped him. He went to them. He's working on a cure voluntarily." Shepard says, tone turning darker as she speaks. Tali, Grunt and I stand behind Shepard watching the three. I look at my shoulder and realize Gary crawled there and is swiveling his eye stalks in accordance to who's speaking. He looks at me and I look back before we both blink at each other and go back to following the conversation. Seems they're on something about ethics now.

"We committed cultural genocide! Nothing I do will ever be justified! The experiments I do are monstrous, because I was taught to be a monster!" Maelon nearly yells out with guilt and anger evident.

Shepard turns to Mordin with a critical eye "Mordin, did you ever perform experiments like this?"

"No. Never taught you this Maelon." Mordin replies, eyes squinted in insult at the accusation and idea.

"We're shutting your lab down Maelon." Shepard says with authority. 

"Shutting down more than that" Adds Mordin.

Maelon steps back, pulling out a carnifex and waving it between everyone, "You can't face the truth can you? Can't admit that your brilliant mind led you to commit an atrocity!" Mordin steps up as Maelon aims at Grunt then punches him in the face before the gun is moved back to him. Maelon stumbles back into one of the tubes behind the holographic interface, reeling in pain and dropping his gun which is promptly picked up by Mordin and held at his face.

"Unacceptable experiments. Unacceptable goals. Won't change. No choice. Have to kill you." Mordin says with a little regret as he lifts the muzzle of the gun into alignment with Maelon's forehead.

"Wait. You don't need to do this Mordin. You're not a murderer." Shepard says, hand raised as she appeals to him.

Maelon nods and adds a weak little smile.

Mordin's eyes open as if waking from a dream and he lets out a small gasp. "No! No, not a murderer…" he backs away with a small shake of his head "Thank you, Shepard."

Maelon steps forward, wiping his eyes as they leak a little. I leave before the smell gets too strong from something else that leaked. Ugh, nasty. I can still smell the burnt Krogan too. I pick up Gary in one hand and hold him as I inspect him. His eye stalks pop out and stare at me.

"So…how did you survive the explosion of my plasma grenade?"

"meow."

"Scans suggest the creature is incapable of speech similar to yours, Delta-Specialist."

"Well, do you have an answer for that then?"

"When Klixen feel they are in a state of distress or danger they emit a large amount of flammable gases from their orifices. Their teeth have a phosphoric coating which can cause sparks to be made if rubbed together, and combined with the spewed gases creates a flamethrower effect. We reason that this creature did the same, emitting a large amount of self-produced flammable gases from its body but currently lacks the phosphorous teeth for the flamethrower effect. As such, it spewed the gases then assumed a defensive position so its shell protected it from the blast while the gases made it more powerful."

"Huh… and I thought you were just a pretty face." I rub the top of Gary's shell between its eye openings to which it lets out a low hum and vibrates in my hand. "He likes me! I'm so keeping you!" Maelon walks out of the room and doesn't even glance at me as he continues on, glancing around himself in fear. "Guess they told him other Krogans would kill on sight. Oh well, doesn't matter to you or me, now does it little guy? I can't wait to get back on the ship things'll be so much fun.


	19. Changing the Home

**Delta: …I got nothing. ROLL CLIP!**

**Disclaimer: Zero does not own Mass Effect or Halo. Only Delta and his insanity, and actions done out of the sake of comedy.**

Change in Life

Geez, this tank is heavy… I don't even have all the soil piled in yet. God, I hope Shepard doesn't walk in here until I've gotten the place cleaned. The floor looks like a pigsty.

"Delta, What the hell are you doing with all this dirt?!" Well it isn't Shepard at least.

"Hey Jacob, I'm just uh…prepping my new roommates stuff." I lean on the tank.

"New roommate? Who is it, a mole?"

"Baby brown klixen actually." Jacob gives me a 'so-not-amused' look. "Hey, you're not here anymore."

"Actually yeah I am. Despite how often I'm not here when you are I do still live here."

"Are you sure? I thought you would've moved in with Kasumi by now…"

"These aren't apartments Delta."

"I'm just saying man. You're there about 90% of the day, why not just be there that last 10%."

"Because she needs privacy that last 10%."

"She needs what?"

"Privacy."

I give him a blank look.

"And I forgot who I was talking to…"

"Uh huh." I turn back to the large aquarium I'm filling with soil and dump some more in. I start patting down the soil at the top before picking up Gary and putting him inside. He does a couple little hops and moves over as I start placing rocks and small vegetation in for decoration. The aquarium wasn't very large, just about 3 feet high and 1 wide. The space on top was just for Gary while the rest was for it's other occupant. One who was still asleep. In case he woke up before I noticed I placed some crickets in the tank and put the lid on over it. The tank was nestled in the corner of the room by my bed, right before the xbox and holo-tv where I played my games. Both gave off a good amount of heat for Gary to bathe in whenever I enjoyed myself. I set to cleaning up the spilled dirt and bags from around the side of the room I had the stuff set up in. "So, what was it you needed Jacob?"

"Oh, uh… You know what, I don't recall what it was now. Odd. Well, I'll just get to work then I guess."

"huh, kay then, I'm gonna go bug Mordin about something." I say, finishing the cleanup and heading into the comm. room to bypass it for Mordin's Lab. Once there I look at Mordin who is standing up and breathing softly, fingers twitching as they hang at his sides. "Uh, Mordin?"

Mordin blinks and shakes his head slightly before straightening, looking at me for a full second before his eyes clear in recognition. "Ah, Delta, good to see you. New projects I assume you wish researched?"

"That I do Mordin, That I do. Observe." I download schematics for a new vehicle onto Mordin's computer.

"Hmm, very interesting..,. easily deployed, good maneuverability, amazing firepower for size. Could work. Will start now. Exciting to see come to fruition."

"Sweet! See you later Mordin, and thanks."

"Pleasure is always mine." Mordin replies. I smile and walk out, heading into the CIC and stepping up behind Kelly. I stand there for a few seconds, watching Shepard and her over her shoulder. "So whats up?"

"OH MY GOD!" Kelly yells out, swinging back with her elbow and then curling up in surprise. I just crumple to the ground in pain. "What have I told you about that?!"

"I had EDI keep deleting the messages you sent him recently. All just for that. You got that on film right EDI?"

"Affirmative, Shepard."

"Perfect."

"I think I've just lost a million potential children…." I groan, rolling across the floor until I'm curled up against the wall as I try to recover.

"At least he has the decency to get out of the way." Shepard mutters while still sifting through the wok on her computer.

A few minutes later I stand up, still hunched and walk over to Shepard. "So, I came to ask where we're headed next."

"I plan to go to the Citadel and Omega soon to handle business for Thane, Garrus and Samara. Zaeed is still pestering me about his old feud and Jacob has something he needs to settle as well. We don't have all the time in the galaxy though. I worry we wont be able to help everyone."

"I could probably handle Zaeed and Jacob for you."

"Hm… you probably could. They're both in small known planets so you couldn't cause a big splash. I'll think about it. In the meantime, we're going to make a quick stop back at Illium to help a friend."

"Hm? Find something for Liara? Likely a little gift from our oh so generous benefactor/terrorist friend."

"He's no friend of mine. Just a temporary ally." Shepard replies.

"Either way, fun times abound no doubt. Illium it is! I will await the journey in my room! Or the vents."

"Silly child…"

"Knock knock" I say before the doors open up to reveal Kasumi in slightly less clothing than usual, olive skin shining in the low light.

"Nice to see you regard me with some privacy."

"I'd rather not get killed for accidentally stepping in on you naked."

"Wise."

"I thought so. I was hoping there might be something here that I could partake of, something of a highly alcoholic nature?"

"No. Shepard's restricted your private binging to beer alone."

"What?! That's no fun…"

Kasumi pats my shoulder while nodding sagely "Yeah, a shame for you, eh Deruta? So, I guess you'd like to grab a bottle?"

"Not a few."

"Only one a day."

"Damn it Shepard…" I sigh. Kasumi chuckles and goes over to lie back on her bed while opening a book as I grab a bottle of beer and head into the crew lounge with a small wave to her. She returns it as the door shuts behind me. I juggle the unopened bottle in my hand while walking over to the elevator and heading up to my room. Five minutes later I step out onto the CIC and take a left towards the armory, opening it to see Jacob poking Gary and Gary's eye stalks just swiveling towards me in what seems like a bored fashion.

"You know, this klixen species seems a lot more capable of showing emotions. I get the sense he's annoyed by me." Jacob says while he stops poking.

I walk over and wrinkle my nose once close to Jacob, backing away to the other side of the tank. "What was your first guess, the irritation shown in his eye stalks or the fact that it seems he keeps farting at you?"

"All the above." Jacob walks over to the guns and resumes his maintenance. I drop some crickets into what seems like a small cone shaped hole dug into the dirt of the aquarium, watching as they start to hop away once the lid is replaced. A single cricket remains in the middle of the hollow before the dirt shifts and before the cricket can jump away a burst of soil rises and falls, engulfing the cricket before it can so much as chirp. I chuckle and turn to see Gary calmly munching on another cricket and lettuce.

"You know where we're headed next?"

"Illium. Shepards got something for Liara, likely about the Shadow Broker. Should be an interesting trip."

"You think so?"

"Oh, I know so." If only you knew how. This videogame was real spot on. "I'm just gonna sleep til we get there." I lay down on the bed and close my eyes, drifting off to sleep quickly.

"Sir, do you see anything?" I shake my head before opening the comms. "Negative Corporal. I'll keep looking." I sigh, floating deeper into the rock formation in the center of a zero gravity sphere we have found in this installation. Verona's face appears in the corner of my HUD, her holographic brows furrowed in confusion as she searches.

"I don't understand. The radar surged in this very area. We should be right on top of whatever responded to our scans. Wait!"

"What is it?"

"Your beta waves have spiked. Somethings affecting your mind, and it isn't me. I can't tell what but it feels clos-THERE!"

I wince at her shout just as my roaming hand brushes against something that feels more metal than rock. I turn and look at what seems to be a steel oval orb with a single hornlike antennae poking out of its top flash blue before I am hit with a wave of semi-solid light, pushing me back into the opposite wall. I curl up as my mind is assaulted with words numbers, all of a foreign language broken with my own. I can faintly register Verona in the background but I cant speak to her as my mind is taxed enough with the images that are slowly becoming understandable. I see a large black sphere and an armored being that stands tall above an army of robotic creatures with orange lights glowing from bladed protrusions and projectile weapons. That's all I see before I black out.

My eyes open widely as I wake up. I sit up and look around no longer floating in a rock formation but back in my cot, on the Normandy. I get up and get dressed quickly, glancing out the window to see us coming into Illium's atmosphere. Seems I woke up right on time. Lets go meet today's squadmates!

"Hey Tali, Garrus." Kinda expected this. But this is two, I make three so who's going to be the last one I wonder…

"Alright, good to see everyone's here." Shepard says while walking over with Thane by her side. "Let's move out."

We head out through the mezzanine and market area, ignoring the vendors calling out as we pass, most stopping and losing a lot of enthusiasm once they take notice of Tali being the only one to look at anything but our destination. We head up the steps and stop in front of Nyxeris who informs Liara of our arrival. I turn invisible before everyone's left, sidling up behind the secretary as Shepard and the others go in. Once behind I look over her shoulder and smirk, seeing the report compiled on her desk makes it far too easy for me to get rid of her while having a useful excuse.

"So, how's your ol buddy the Broker doing, hm?" I say, shimmering into view slowly behind her as I hear her gasp. I put a hand on top of hers before she can press a button she was reaching towards, pinning it to the desk. My other hand grips her arm to stop it as well.

"Beginning file copy…Complete. Coordinates and IP for delivery extracted." Silver says in my helmet. I smirk, having an AI was oh so useful.

"Well, fun as this is, I think Liara should hear about this." Nyxeris grits her teeth and glares hotly before her biotic aura flares up around the two of us. I only have time to say "wait" before I'm flung forward and hit the door to Liara's office hard. I groan and get up quickly seeing Nyxeris scramble from behind her desk. I lunge forward with a single elongated blade, slashing across her ankle and shin, causing Nyxeris to stumble while I get up. Once I do I shove my blade towards her neck but the plasma splashes as it comes into contact with her barrier.

"Huh, forgot about that. Well then." I turn off the blade and hold her by her shoulder before punching her forehead, knocking Nyxeris out cold. Just as I get up with her under an arm Shepard and the others have scrambled out of the office and Liara looks furious.

"What the hell are you-"

"She's a traitor. Nyxeris was a double agent working for the Shadow Broker. She compiled a report on her computer and I saw it. She threw me off her before I could bring her to you."

Tali crosses over to the computer and taps on it but it is unresponsive as she looks through its components she swears. "She's destroyed it. I can't lift anything out of the memory core. Any evidence is gone."

I merely smirk as Silver sends a copy of the report he lifted to Shepard and Liara's omni-tools. Shepard merely nods while Liara looks at me questioningly.

"I won't spam you emails you know."

"Well, at least this means the Broker wont know about the information you've given me since Nyxeris is taken out of the loop. You can dispose of her now."

"Aw, and I wanted to ask her out on a date too…"

"She'd just say no and kill herself at the idea."

"Hurtful. Oh this is a dilemma…"

"What is it?"

"Well, it's harder to kill her now. She's not trying to kill me. Or hurt me. She looks kinda peaceful now actually, aside from that nasty bruise."

"You've killed before haven't you? How is this that much different?" Liara asks

"Well before usually involved guns shooting at me, pain, taking shots back, visions of red and some not so heroic cowering-I mean taking cover. Here I'm calm, holding an unconscious alien woman in my arms with a warm sun shining on my skin -bang- AH! You could've hit me!" I yell, dropping the new corpse on the ground and staring wide eyed at Liara who just puts away her pistol.

Liara sighs and turns to Shepard, "I'm going home to start looking through the information you've given me. Here's my address, come over when you can. Feel free to use my computer for any information you need to know." Liara then turns and heads off through a hallway. I look down at the body of Nyxeris and slowly inch away from it.

"I'm going to look through the markets for anything we might find useful. You guys are free to do what you want until I call you again. Don't get drunk." She says the last part with an emphasized look at me. I just turn and whistle. "Delta."

"Yes Commander…" I walk over to a robot parts stall and look at what's available for purchase the vendor comes over and starts talking animatedly about what she has for sale and I just stare at her with my visor tinted until she slows down and eventually shuts up. When she slinks away I laugh under my breath. I hear Tali chuckle as she walks up beside me.

"That was certainly funny but also what you humans would call a, dick move, right?"

I laugh a little again "Yeah, pretty much." I pick out an item and start looking at the specs for it. I was hoping to find something I could use to upgrade the Colossus again but it doesn't seem luck was on my side. I found a cool automatic feeding system for an aquarium and figured I could modify it a bit to dispense food for Gary and his roomie. Hehe, wonder how long it'll take for Shepard to find out about him. Oh well, anyway moving on I think it's time to visit Aethyta at the bar!

"Delta, Shepard said you couldn't-"

"Aethyta! Can I have some orange juice?!"

"I don't have any kid. If it's alcoholic I got it, but I doubt I have anything that isn't besides water."

"Mhmm….hmmm…hmmhmhmhmhmhmm."

"Stop it."

Tali rolls her eyes and looks at Aethyta. "Shepard said he isn't allowed to drink so please don't give him anything alcoholic."

"Will do." "killjoy…"

"Thank you." Tali points a finger at me "Behave." Then walks off, likely to inspect the items at the shop. Wonder if she got a pay raise, I'm pretty sure I've collected some "extra" money along the way. Interesting how pocket change and salvaged thermal clips can get you so much extra money.

"We're helping out Liara. She's onto something about the Shadow Broker now."

"Is that so?" Aethyta's response is melancholy but I noticed the small twitch in her forehead. I smirk and grab a bottle of water from my hardcase, taking a sip as I watch her clean a glass. Seeing no one else is at the bar I feel its safe to continue.

"Yup. Honestly I feel it's a little unhealthy but she does seem to harbor a lot of guilt over what she's done. One friend nearly died and she fears what the other might feel about the measures she's taken. Why the universe chose to deprive her of a comfort I wont ever know."

"Life ain't fair kid."

"Nope, it sure ain't." I get a ring on my omni tool, a message from Shepard saying to meet at the taxi station in 5 minutes. A mere 2 minute walk. "She's going to find out. Then she'll have questions. I hope by then you're ready to answer as many as you can. And that you'll be the one she comes to for the answers." I slide off the stool, give a small smile and wave to Aethyta before walking off. I can just feel her stare back at me.

At the taxi station I whistle and slide into a cab, seeing as everyone else is already piled in to theirs. I look to the side and see Thane as my taxi partner, his eyes closed as if in meditation. I lay back and relax as the cab zooms off, flying through the sky towards Liara's apartment. It was rather fun, until we got to the destination which was when I was hit by the sadness of the ride being over.

And the surprise of the taped off crime scene. Shepard jumps out of her cab in front of us with Garrus and Tali, running over and using her Spectre license to get past the tape. Thane and I follow close behind. I immediately start looking around, ignoring the cops and Tela Vasir as she makes her appearance. I watch from the corner of the apartment as she and Shepard talk, glaring at our future traitor. Tela dismisses the local cops so she and Shepard can do some more investigating. I step over to the bullet holes in the window of Liara's apartment, waving Garrus over.

"What do you make of this?" I ask him.

"Definitely not standard issue work. Would have to be very powerful too, judging from the angle of the breakage in the glass the shot was taken from a high point, either on level or above Liara's apartment flooring." Garrus says, hand stroking his chin as he speaks.

"So it was either straight or down at an angle. Likely from one of those three buildings across the street, they seem to be in range." I unholster my rifle and look through the sights. "I'd say the middle one, but that's the most obvious choice since it provides the straighter shot, so another option would be the building on the left. There's a nice alcove within sight of here, likely good sniping distance and held in the corner of the building, closest point to the target and just out of sight too."

Garrus takes the rifle and looks through it for a few seconds before handing it back to me and nodding as its replaced in its holster. "I agree, the middle and left one are the best choices for a successful hit with a sniper."

"I found something." Shepard says, standing in front of the prothean relic near the bottom of the stairs. Shepard takes it over to Liara's TV where the message showing her talking to her contact Sekat shows up on screen. We watch intently until we hear the next destination, Baria Frontiers at the Dracon trade center.

"Guess we're getting a new travel agent Shepard." I say as we head out to the cabs. Tela jumps into her own car. Together we all head out to the Trade center, slowly coming in to park out front. Suddenly a large explosion rocks our shuttlecars and the center itself, blowing people onto the ground and causing flames to billow out of the 4 story building. We jump out of our cars and start running for the building. Tela flies over Shepard, pausing her car shortly,

"I'll come in from above, cut them off!" "Alright!" Shepard yells back, hurrying though the front doors. I follow, watching Tela's car go to the roof so she can do her dirty business out of sight. "I look forward to getting you…" I mutter. Once inside we see the wreckage from the blast destroyed the lobby, dead bodies littered everywhere.

"This is just pissing me off." I say, clenching my Plasma Repeater in my hand.

Shepard says nothing but remains calm and moving forward, heading for the stairs leading to the atrium offices. Forgot she's seen much worse anyhow…well we haven't seen the Collector's plans for their human captives so she couldn't have seen stuff that much worse. Once up the stairs we look around the Atrium, seeing the offices and Salarian Embassy. Shepard tells Vasir about the shot civilians and unarmed bomb she finds, warning her on the enemies possession of military grade hardware. I ignore it and move on, going into the sign in desk for Baria Frontiers.

"Shepard, Liara's signed in to the office very recently. Few minutes ago in fact."

"You get that Vasir?" Shepard asks over the comm.

"Got it." is her reply.

"I'll scout ahead." I say before going stealthed. Garrus goes by the door and opens it, peeking out as I walk through. The door closes behind me and I curse under my breath seeing sprinkler valves going crazy. I watch the area intently looking for any mercs who might be watching. If they see the water splash off my armor, my camo wont be worth a damn. With no one in sight I rush through the water, spraying as little as I can and hurry forward again, towards a dry cubicle area. I crouch down in one and let the water slide off me, not a moment too soon as a squad of mercs run past me, all armed and one with an RPG launcher on his back. They hide at the front of the cubicle office, waiting for Shepard to walk through the door.

I speak lowly so as not to be heard, "Shepard, there's a group of 5 soldiers here, 4 with assault rifles one with a rocket launcher. They're at the end of the first hallway, situated in front of the cubicled section of the office."

"Understood."

-Kzzt- what was tha- "Alpha team be advised, your position is compromised. The enemy is being supplied with intelligence. All groups be wary, watch for anyone cloaked or moving whilst cloaked at all times. We need to get rid of this recon unit quickly." Silver?

"We accessed their communication arrays. We believed it to be beneficial to our goal."

"It is good to know they'll be looking for me now… Well, they can't catch what they can't see so lets remain unseen." I sneak ahead, looking back as Shepard and the others open fire on the group I told them about, pinning them down with their surprise attack and taking out 2 in the initial fight. I walk forward, moving by a group of 4 standing near a hole in the wall caused by the explosions. Shepard gets near them after passing by the first group and 2 move off to engage her immediately. The last two hang back and then go forth as one of their allies dies and I see a 5th one come from a hallway by the hole. I look back, seeing the last guy crouching behind cover with his shields dwindling as Shepard advances so I jump up and break my cloak for a few seconds, slamming my blade into the 5th man's throat and lowering him to the ground as he dies before resuming my crouched position and cloaking once more. Shepard guns down the man behind cover as he fumbles to alert his cohorts about me but luckily he only managed to get out a gurgling groan of death.

"Silver, how often do people look up?"

"Statistics state that it is not often."

"Well, lets take the path less traveled." Silver's only response is a slight hum as he activates my packs anti-gravity module, sending me up to the ceiling. I use my hands to pull myself along it, staying out of sight and above those pesky sprinklers so my cover isn't blown. Without using the thrusters as well the camo system is capable of cloaking me and the pack as well

"Shepard, group of 4, sort of an office/mezzanine area. 1 with a rocket launcher behind a barrier in front of the hallway, 2 behind a barrier in the middle area with rifles and the last is on the side of the hall where the hallway opens into the room."

Shepard moves in with Tali Thane and Garrus. Thane and Garrus stay back as Tali and Shepard go in first, shotgun and SMG blazing as they take down the targets.

"End of the hallway, several barriers, I count 7 mercenaries all armed with rifles. One is an engineer and has an incinerate primed."

Shepard and Tali rush forward, diving behind some nearby barriers. Thane and Garrus each fire a shot, one taking out the engineers shields, the other his tech armor and then Shepard pops up to put a few rounds through his head. The 6 remaining soldiers pop up together and fire at them all.

"6 remaining. 2 are stationed behind a pillar to the right of the room. 1 more is hiding behind some thick rubble on the far left but if you get closer he is likely to move through the open for better cover, probably to the barrier in the middle of the hall with one of his friends behind it. The last 2 are behind a barrier behind this first one. I'm at their backs Shep. Tell me when to go and I'll take down these two while you guys get the rest." I say, positioning myself above the two mercs, ready to shut off my pack and cloak and drop down on them.

"Wait. Garrus, Thane your shots lined up?"

"Got my eye on the ones at 3."

"Target set for the crossing shot."

"Go Delta." Shepard says, moving up with Tali. The guy on the left gets up to move towards cover with his friend but is immediately shot down by Thane. The 2 behind the pillar at the side pop out to shoot Shepard and Tali. One get's taken down by Garrus and the other is brought down by Tali's shotgun after Garrus breaks his shields. Shepard opens fire on the guy behind his barrier, forcing him back down and vaulting it to punch him in the face before shooting the last of her clip into his dazed body.

I merely dropped down, slamming my booted foot onto a guys head and forcing it into the barrier, breaking both while all my plasma was channeled into the right blade, enlarging it to be longer than my forearm and like a mini plasma sword, swinging it up into the guy to my left, piercing his shields then twisting it before plunging down, stabbing through his armor and body into the ground as he dies. I pull it out and stand up, walking over to Shepard and the others as they collect thermal clips to replace their spent ones. Shepard grabs some extra credits before heading for the hallway into the stairs.

"Burn baby burn…" I say, following her and seeing the pipes spewing fire in front of the stairs preventing our journey forward.

"I'll get it." Tali says, stepping into an adjacent room and activating the fire suppressant systems manually. "Clear!" Tali says, walking back out as water sprays down once more.

"Great, now we're all wet once again…"

"I have a shotgun." 

"I wasn't even going to say anything!" I throw my arms up and turn to Tali. "You have a very dirty mind my friend!"

Tali's eyes narrow at me. The two of us stare at each other even while Shepard shakes her head and walks on up the stairs. We remain where we are until we hear more gunshots. Tali rushes forward while I sigh and cloak myself once more. I move up, seeing the last 2 mercs of the level then realize what happens next. I rush over to the door and try to open it, watching as the lock slides open and the door turns.

"Wait, no!" I hear and pull out my phalanx, shoving it through the door gaps and pulling the trigger. I hear a yell that sounds distinctly human and straighten as the door opens fully, bringing the pistol up to my eye and firing more accurately. The human wielding the shotgun drops dead and Vasir stands in shock for a second before drawing her weapon I lung and grab Sekat then use my pack to burst us back through the door, shielding him with my body as Vasir tries to shoot. The door closes behind us, Shepard and the others running up.

"Delta!"

"Saved Sekat. Vasir's a traitor. Come on!" I scramble up after dropping Sekat behind the desk by the door, running through it again with Shepard to see Liara and Vasir facing each other. Liara has a gun pointed at Vasir while Vasir has a hand behind her back, and the other holding up a datadisk containing the info we need.

"Not that you'll ever see what's on it…." Vasir glows blue as the glass window behind her fractures and shards fly out from it towards Liara, Shepard and I. "…You pureblood bitch!"

Liara makes a protective Biotic sphere as Vasir starts to run away. Shepard runs after her, tackling her through the glass and delivering a few short punches while trying to grab the disk. The two tumble in midair, Vasir's biotics slowing their descent before she's able to wedge her foot between the two and shove Shepard off, kicking her into the ground. Liara jumps out after her, using her biotics to do the same before sprinting after Vasir. Back at the window I watch Liara and shake my head slowly. I understand her reasoning but still, doing that felt… wrong. Thane, Tali, and Garrus head straight down while I stop to pick up Sekat and fireman carry him to where the other injured persons are. I leave him with them then use my flight pack to circle around after the others with his thanks already fading away. I see Vasir jump into her car while Shepard, Liara and the others watch.

"Delta! Go!" Shepard yells, point at me then throwing her hand to Vasir.

"With pleasure! Silver, full throttle!" I rise up further and shoot off after the Spectre, noticing the others get into their own skycars. Within minutes they've caught up to Vasir, about 5 or 6 car lengths behind her while my more nimble self is nearly above. I see things drop and float from her car.

"Shepard, she's dropping proximity charges." I hear a feminine voice echo this a few seconds after me.

"I noticed!" Shepard exclaims.

Hehe, forgot how bad of a backseat driver Liara was. Oops, charge, Barrel roll time. And incoming traffic! Up, down, left, left, right, up, up again, drop down, wave hi, DID SHE TIP A TRUCK!? Uh oh, she hit someone. When crazy drivers collide!

"Agh!"

"Shepard was that you?"

"No" Shepard replies with a light chuckle.

"You're enjoying this." I hear Liara declare. Tali and Garrus chuckle over the intercom.

Ah, Truck!

"Truck!" Liara yells.

"Again?" Shepard says. I glance back to watch her manouver around it then speed up again, close to catching Vasir. Shepard gets closer too, her progression slower but sure as she pulls up beside her and I land on the hood of her car. The two start to bump each other through the traffic. I struggle to hold on, using one plasma blade to cut into the engines of Vasir's car.

"Hope you don't have insurance!" I yell before jumping off as another car crashes into Vasir's, knocking her out of the sky and careening towards a building. Wait…

"Hey uh Shepard. You know those places you told me to avoid in Omega? Am I allowed in their classy cousins?" I say, floating above them as I see reinforcements fly in. "They look like they're going to have some good business." I zoom over to the truck at the end, stopping on the windshield and waving before stabbing into it. I force the door open with y plasma blade and grab the driver, tossing him into the truck bed with the rest of his cargo before tilting the wheel and aiming for one landed truck that hasn't offloaded its occupants. I jump off and fly up as the two collide, causing an explosion that rocks the ground and startles the rest of the reinforcements, giving Shepard and the others a few seconds to mow them down. Of the few that remain I pick off a couple by sniper shots from midair then drop down, the muscle stilling servos in my armor shutting down in their cooldown period.

"Hey, that was over quickly." I say, landing by the others as they head inside a room. We see a video of dancing Asari in front of male occupants.

"What kind of hotel is this?" Shepard asks.

"Azure. It's a luxury resort with an…exotic edge. 'Azure' is slang in some areas of Illium for a part of the Asari body."

"Where?"

"Mainly the lower reaches. Near the bottom."

"I meant where on the Asari body." Shepard clarifies, turning her head to look at Liara

"So did I." Liara responds, turning hers to do the same.

I watch the two for a half second before turning away "These two need some catch up time…"

"I heard that Delta." Shepard says, irritated. Liara actually looks somewhat embarrassed for a short second before schooling her expression again.

"Not cariiiing." I say, jogging out and following a blood trail through more rooms before finding a dining area entrance. I look up and see Vasir further in. I cloak and move forward, Shepard close behind me with the group.

"Vasir stop! It's over." Liara yells out.

"Hey, hey you come here. What's your name?" Vasir suddenly flashes behind a waitress, holding her in front and pointing her gun over her shoulder at Shepard.

"M-Marianna… my name's Marianna." The area quickly clears as shrill screams and yells of panic sound out. Alls quiet far too soon.

"Marianna, you want to live don't you? Tell those people that you want to live."

Marianna looks at Shepard, a tear forming in her eye, "Please" is all she says, the rest unneeded.

Shepard makes her voice calm and consoling as she speaks "We'll get you out of here safely Marianna, alright?"

Vasir smiles in a sadistic and mocking fashion "Well, that's good to hear. All you had to do was walk away. Now it get's ugly." Vasir lifts her pistol to Marianna's head as she says this, the gun humming as its rounds prepare to fire.

Marianna cries openly now, holding back her sobs as she tries to speak clearly "Please, I have a son!"

"A son? I hope he gets to see you again. I hear losing a parent is just horrific for children. Scars them for life." Vasir says into her ear. Mariannas brows furrow as the tears stream down faster. She stares at Shepard beseechingly.

"I'm going to end you Vasir." Liara threatens.

"It's okay Liara we'll handle it. The usual way." Shepard says this and looks straight at me so I pounce.

I shove my plasma blade into Vasir's pistol, jamming it and making her drop it as the blade pierces through and comes close to her eye. When she does I kick her in the gut, knocking her away while I grab Marianne and activate my flightpack, shooting off to the side as Shepard and the others open fire on Vasir, damaging her barrier by a good amount before she recovers and biotically flashes to somewhere else. The gunshots keep going off as I duck inside a door with Marianne, patting her back soothingly while her grip on me remains tight.

"It's ok, it's ok. You're fine, you're not in danger anymore. You're safe."

Marianne's frantic breathing slows and her eyes grow calmer as a couple seconds pass. She looks at me and hugs me "Thank you. Thank you, thank you."

I chuckle "I think that's enough. You'd better get home, get out of here as soon as you can. I gotta go and help my teammates." I open the door and drop back into stealth, luckily Vasir had gotten knocked into a pool by the time I got back out. She bursts out of it and starts shooting at Shepard and the others. Garrus and Thane drop back to safe distances for their sniper rifles to do their work while Liara and Tali stay closer to Vasir.

"Delta, no cloaking, get over with Liara and Tali now!" Shepard says as Vasir moves to the other edge of the room closer to Tali, prompting Shepard to switch to her sniper rifle to shoot her along with Garrus and Thane. I drop my active camo and boost over to her, knocking her away from Tali with a punch as Tali jumps to the side to avoid her shockwave. Tali then blasts her with her shotgun, knocking Vasir's barrier down some. Vasir moves away towards Liara who uses a singularity to slow her while I pull out my plasma repeater and fire. Once Liara's barrier is down she blinks away and we search for her wildly until two trucks with reinforcements come in and drop off soldiers. I shoot down a few with my plasma repeater, Shepard Garrus and Thane making a long-range killzone at the other end. Tali's shotgun does work while Liara's Singularity manages to snag a few and throw em off the edge.

"I'll finish you myself!" Vasir says, dropping back into the middle of our formation and sending a shockwave towards our snipers. Whiel they're distracted Vasir warps over to us and kicks down Liara while punching Tali. She lifts a table with her biotic power and is about to slam it down onto Tali's head. I boost in and slide Tali out of the way, taking the hit instead, we slide in different directions and my back impacts against a wall. I open my eyes with a grunt of pain then see a black singularity compress itself against my chest. Looking up Vasir's smirk grows wider as tables and chairs start to fly at me, hitting and pressing against my body as the singularity becomes the center of gravity for the flying mass of objects.

"Why do people still stick their gum under these things!" I yell, noticing my body getting weighed down as more objects fly at me, probably the result of Vasir's shockwaves knocking things up to be caught in the gravity well more easily. I struggle to get to my feet, Constantly having to readjust as the globe of objects gets larger and larger, making me more top-heavy even though just my shins and feet are sticking out. The echo of a force nearly pushes me back and I guess that Vasir just charged in front of me to avoid my teammates attacks.

"Switching to thermals vision." So she did. Thank you Silver. So Vasir IS right in front of me. Perfect.

"KATAMARI STYLE BITCH!" I yell out, thrusting myself forward. I see Vasir turn just as the large tightly packed ball of me, tables, chairs, vases, thermal clips, a merc who is struggling to escape the table pressing tightly into his groin, and the top half of a LOKI mech smash on top of Vasir's head. The singularity breaks apart as she's dazed by the strike and everything tumbles apart, covering us in debris from the dining area. "Thank god I wear a helmet…"

Vasir jumps out, clutching her shoulder before a last shot from Shepard knocks her back down. She crawls towards the wall on all fours, grunting and saying "Damn it" a few times.

Liara walks over to Vasir and grabs the data disk from her pocket before looking through it on her omni tool and walking away. Vasir starts talking about how the Shadow Brokers stronger than anyone and then she and Shepard get into some moral conversation.

I clamber out of the mess and grab onto Garrus ankle moaning "BRAAAAIINNNSS!"

He merely kicks me off and walks over to Tali, shaking his head.

As I got up and dusted myself off I saw Shepard and Liara moving away back down the hallway towards where the skycar was parked. The two talk with frequent interruptions made by Shepard as their tone grows progressively softer and harder to hear. I take a few of the broken rocket drones and carry them with me as we all head back to the ship. Once aboard I head straight to my room and take out two things. One of those things is the automatic feeding system I bought on the way out, filling it with crickets and installing it to the side of the tank. The other thing was the crumpled broken heaps of shot rocket drones.

"Silver, mind getting some work done on our other project?"

"Acknowledged." I see the compacted form of the Geth platform silver tends to use expand as he brings it online, nodding to me before heading out for the elevator and down to the cargo bay.

I turn back to the rocket drones and start to take them apart. "Let's see if I can make you like them…"

**Delta: THERE WE GO! Done for now. Next chapter, we get to the Shadow Broker's base. I can't wait to take down the Broker!**

**Zero: Hehe, yeah, you get to help that a lot.**

**Delta: Wha-?**

**Zero: Until next time readers!**

**Delta: Wait, what do you mea-!**

**Zero: (knocks out Delta) PEACE!**


	20. Change of Direction

**Delta: Hi, I'm Delta!**

**Zero: This ought to be good.**

**Delta: And this is Jackass! (hops on top of Grunt and pokes him in the butt with a taser) YEEHAAWWWW!**

**Grunt: OW! DELTA!**

**Zero: Wow he actually did it…**

**Disclaimer: Zero612 does not own Mass Effect or Halo. Both videogame franchises belong to their respective companies.**

**Delta: Sonuvabitch! (flies across the screen, quickly followed by Grunt's charge)**

**Zero: (sighs) I'll get Chakwas.**

Change of Direction

"Let's see here, compile a packet of schematics for Alliance to use to upgrade ships and defenses, check. Give Chakwas that bottle of brandy I owed her, check. Research more on the creature known as the Thresher maw, check. Hehe, imagine my surprise, they grow to the size of a Mako in just 5 years. Explains how he's the size of a puppy already. Right Jr?" The dirt in the aquarium shifts slightly. "Develop EVA frame. Silver's on that, should be ready before the Collectors hit. Modify rocket drones into basic Sentinel prototype, check." I pat the reconstructed drones, now a single oval shaped drone with three legs that close over its face, housing a thermal beam and all powered by a plasma battery core. "Hehe, this'll be useful. Soon as I get to our neighborhood intergalactic post office. Or I'll just have Tali send it. much easier." I deactivate the interface on my omni-tool housing the checklist as I stand up, walking over to the weapons bench that currently houses my 3 guns, my hybrid rifle I have now decided to name "The Cobra" rifle, my plasma repeater and my M-5 Phalanx.

They were all laid out for one reason earlier, which is also the reason I admire them now. They were all painted to fit my black and red color scheme. The blue on the phalanx was replaced with black while the white was changed to a dark red. The Cobra's sides were al black with red around the barrel, front grip and thermal clip ejector. The Plasma repeaters globule carapace was actually a mix of black and dark blue while a crimson paint was used for the center area, where the plasma bolts were spun and launched. The firing mechanism was also toyed with so the bolts themselves were even changed to be the same hue of crimson as well.

"I am so, gooood." Thank you sudden influx of information. You hurt like a bitch, but have proven yourself all too useful in this world. I smile to myself while walking out of the armory to head down and get some food from Gardner.

"Hey Gard I-…." I must have taken something by accident because I cannot believe my eyes.

"Delta! There you are! Last stop we got a guy give all these to us, said it was reserved for you. Don't know if someone likes you, hates you or hates us for thinking to give ya so much sugar…" Gardner says, glancing suspiciously out of the corner of his eye at the 2 crates beside his kitchen, labeled "Donut's for Delta".

Shepard steps out of the elevator with Liara beside her, fingers massaging her forehead in annoyance. "Gardner, please tell me that whatever you called me down here for is NOT Delta related."

"Uh, well commander…" Gardner looks over to the crates, 1 is unopened but the other has an oddly Delta shaped growth on its side which clutches it tightly while also taking out a donut from its contents at random intervals.

"Who got him these?!" Shepard demands.

"I don't know, it was anonymous when they gave it to us." Gardner replies.

"Tim came through! He wasn't lying, oh joyous day!" I say, before eating another delicious pumpkin spice donut. I love how they eliminate seasonal availability when money's involved. I didn't think he'd actually consult the list I sent him. I kind of expected it to be all chocolate, then I could keep calling him a dirty backstabbing bastard. Now he's just a dirty bastard. Ooh, glazed cruller!

"How many has he eaten?"

"I think about 20 by now."

"I've missed you lovely heated dough rings of delicious sugaryness!"

"Take the second crate and make it available to the crew. He's restricted to the one he opened already now." Shepard says before walking off.

I stop mid bite and turn to look at her. "What?"

"You heard me Delta, better eat your stash sparingly. You're forbidden to take any from the other crate."

"But-"

"No Buts."

I pick up the crate and carry it to the elevator, muttering "fine" while I ride back up to the armory. Once the crate is deposited there and a couple last donuts are liberated for snacking I then decide to actually consider how many I've eaten. Which goes up to about 2 dozen now…

"Oh boy…" I say before crashing down onto my cot.

"From what I heard he ate over 20 of those things. I don't think he'll be up for maybe another 10 minutes or so." I hear a deep voice say. Likely Jacob.

"It's been an hour now." That sounds like Kasumi.

"Yeah, I don't think he'll wake anytime soon."

"No spicing it up! I'm still here dammit…" I say groggily, one eye poking open to provide half a glare. Jacob just doubles over in laughter and Kasumi joins him. I glare at the two and leave, wiping off the drool from the corner of my mouth and heading into the elevator with scrunched eyes. "Shepard, make sure Jacob and Kasumi stay off my bed please." I say before the elevator doors close and I go down to the cargo bay level.

Shepard blinks and looks up from her computer, turning to look at the elevator doors then to the ones leading into the Armory "…Not dealing with that. Kelly."

"Wha-?"

"Do it."

What the hell…

"He is seventy years old and still goes on suicide missions for relaxation. He's fucked with Aria…twice in one night, and she asked for more. He doesn't have pick up lines, he has pick up looks. He won an arm wrestle match with an elcor. 3 times. If he were to give you directions, you'd never get lost; and arrive at least 5 minutes early. He is Zaeed Massani, the most interesting man in the Galaxy." At this point Zaeed shows up in a seat surrounded by several Asari of ranging hues, all positioned under the sign of a certain hotel. "I don't always stay in Illium long, but when I do, I stay at Azure. Stay lethal my friends."

"pffft, hahahahahaaaa! I cant-I can't….HAHAHA!" I laugh, rolling on the ground behind Zaeed who just mutters and shakes his head with his usual usage of unnecessary swears.

"Like that kid? Cuz it's the only copy left. We scrapped the whole thing and erased the footage. I'm about to scrap this one too."

I pop up and stare at him wide-eyed with a smile "Can I have it?!"

"Why do you want it?" Zaeed asks, leaning forward and looking at me with a critical eye.

"Because this is awesome! I'm going to show Shepard, then the crew, then I'm putting this on Galatube! In that order!" I say.

"Is that right? Tell you what kid, I'll give you the video file. I don't care about Shepard or the crew, but put it up on Galatube, and I get to beat the shit out of ya."

"Just the first time, or everytime you see it?"

"Every time."

"Make it only the first and you got a deal, but you have to catch me, and you can only do the beating within 1 week of viewing it online."

"…Alright, you got a deal, fuckwit." Zaeed taps his omni tool and the video file transfers to me. I laugh and get up, leaving the room while rubbing my hands together. "You're in for a hell of a beating, you know that?"

"You underestimate my power." I chuckle before turning around and walking towards the elevator "Pleasure doing business with you Zaeed."

"I understand your position Shepard. There's a research station we have set up near you, just about a small star cluster away. A slight detour but it wont change much. I'll message ahead, tell them to give you one of their Kodiaks. Just be sure to return it."

"Thanks." Shepard says with a slight sigh.

"See you later, Shepard." Tim nods before pressing a button and ending the call.

Shepard steps out of the holo-projection center and looks over at Miranda. "You're in charge of getting the shuttle. I'll go tell Joker and Liara about the detour."

"Do you think she'll be upset over it?"

"She doesn't have a choice, we don't have as much time as I'd like so I need to make use of what we do have. Also, go get Delta and tell him to meet me on the CIC in a few minutes please."

"Will do Commander." Miranda nods then heads off to the elevator, stopping by EDI. "EDI, where was Delta last seen?"

"With mercenary Massani in the port cargo hold. He has left through the ventilation so I do not know where he is or headed now." Was EDI's response. Just then the elevator opened, revealing Silver in his geth trooper platform, dragging behind him an unconscious Delta by the leg with his arms splayed out behind him as he was pulled across the floor.

"Officer Lawson. EDI." Silver says with a nod towards the two, not pausing as he drags his human companion behind him over and through the armory doors. Miranda recovers as the door closes, hurrying to and through it to question Silver. She stops, noting Kasumi standing to one side and looking somewhat flustered while Jacob was switching between looking at Delta and glaring at Silver. "What happened?"

"Delta was stacking crates in the cargo deck on edges, trying to make a new "Leaning Tower" when he misjudged the balance of one near the center. When sufficient weight was placed on top it tumbled and crashed down on top of him."

Jacob sighs while Miranda rubs her forehead some. "Are there any notable injuries?" she asks.

"None aside from a bruise on his head. Our scans show no signs of concussion."

"How long until he wakes up?"

"Not long." Silver says, bending down to reach under the bed. Looking around he makes sure that Delta's xbox and holo screen projector along with other appliances are a decent distance before pulling out a small bucket with ice and water and dumping it on the boy.

"GAH! Cold cold cold cold cold!" I jerk awake, shivering and hunching to the side. "Dammit Silver, I didn't think you'd ever actually use that procedure!"

Slight crackles of mirth come from Silver's 'mouth'. "We acknowledged it as an effective one." Silver says, going to turn up the heater in the room.

"Now I gotta change my sheets…"

"You have more important matters than that to attend to right now." Miranda says, looking down at me and I blink in surprise. Huh, didn't notice her. "The Commander wants to speak with you over in the CIC. She says it's important."

Huh, must be something to do with the Shadow broker. "Alright, I'll just change and go talk to her then." Miranda responds with an "okay" then walks off with Jacob and Kasumi. "Wonder what the Commander wants to talk about."

"We suspect it has to do with the Station we are traveling to now."

"Station?" 

"Correct. Joker-Pilot has just altered the course of the Normandy as per Shepard-Commander's orders."

I look outside the window in the armory. "Where are we headed?"

"A Cerberus station."

"Why?"

"Pickup for a shuttle."

"Why?"

"I do not know that."

"Crap, now I actually have to go and talk to Shepard…" I say, walking out of the armory. I look at Shepard's usual station and raise an eyebrow at her absence. Kelly pokes me and points up, signaling Shepard's in her private cabin up above.

"Ah, thanks."

"Please knock on the door."

"Not if I can do something funnier." I jump up onto the railing in front of Shepard's commander pedestal thing, grabbing onto the vent above and hauling myself up. I head up and through the ducts, moving silently and creeping further and further along. I stop when I reach a small duct too small for me to move through and take a peek, seeing Shepard feeding her fish. I move around, looking for a vent I can use and sighing in dismay when none are found. Seems I can't sneak into Shepards room using this method. Ah well, I gotta show some limits after all. I move back to the room outside Shepards, blinking as I see Liara standing out by the door and somewhat nervous while holding a plaque with dog tags on them. I smirk to myself and open a vent above her, sliding myself down quickly but quietly and smiling at her upside down "Hey Liara!"

Shepard's ears perk as she hears a loud thud outside of her room. Blinking in question and opening the door she takes one look before sighing in exasperation. Liara stood before her with a look that hinted annoyance and anger while her biotic corona began to fade from around her body. Delta, however, was upside down at the other end of the room and crumpled into himself, likely nursing whatever headache the impact gave him. "Come on you two. I need to talk to you." Liara stepped through the door after Shepard and Delta followed while both his hands cradled his head.

I groan, rubbing my head with both hands "God, why does it hurt so much!"

"My main target was your head so the biotic energies were focused there." Liara responds, glancing at me in annoyance.

"Listen up you two." Shepard says, standing in front of us with her arms folded, "I called you here to tell you something. It's not going to cause a big change in plans but it will waylay us for about a day more than the trip was originally going to take."

"What, why?" Liara asks.

"Because we don't have all the time in the galaxy I need to make use of what we do have. I can't see this side trip helping us much in the long run against the Collectors right now so I'm going to have to multitask. As such, we're making a short side trip to a Cerberus research station to borrow their Kodiak shuttle. Delta, once we have that shuttle I want you to take Jacob and Zaeed and help them put their demons to rest so they can focus on the mission."

Oh yay, I get to command Loyalty missions! "Understood Shep!"

"Don't do anything to screw up please. I'm serious Delta, I want these missions done and I don't want you screwing them up just for a petty joke."

"You doubt my ability Shepard." I smirk. "I can pull off a great joke while still getting the job done. I thought you'd know that by now."

"Sometimes I question your sanity…"

I have a conciousness that spans across three dimensions, 2 of which I thought existed solely to video games I enjoyed playing, I have a sudden large amount of technological information that people who have studied science for their whole life cant even touch and I'm murdering people while not feeling emotional strain from it even with my reasoning which seems naïve by my own standards. I question it too. "You're not the only one." That last parts the most worrisome and yet I rarely think of it…I wonder if it has to do with that Spartan Delta I see in my blackouts.

I head out as Liara and Shepard start talking, heading down the elevator and thinking. So I have the merc and the armorer's loyalties to secure. Shouldn't be too hard, just gotta make sure Zaeed doesn't blow up the refinery on Zorya and Jacob gets to see his dad. Well, me Jacob and Zaeed are enough firepower in ourselves for handling the primal crewmen and defense mechs that guard Jacob's dad, guess that leaves the rest of the group I assemble to be needed for personnel safety and fire. If I can stop the fire from starting in the first place, even better. Yes, that seems like a better way but how…Hm, stealth would be needed, most certainly. Perhaps I should just bring Kasumi and Silver. "Silver, how good are you at sniper positioning?"

"We are very capable of sniping enemy targets."

"Good to know." I walk into the armory, looking around and sighing as I slip into a vent duct. First stop is Zaeed because the merc is less likely to be in a situation Id rather not disrupt. I drop down from the vent, my lower body still inside it as my upper hangs and turns to see Jack and Zaeed talking, both stopping and looking at my sudden entry. "Zaeed get ready. You're coming with me on the shuttle Shepard's picking up and Zorya is one of our stops."

"About bloody time we got to doing that. I can't wait to get that bastard Vido back for all he's done to me."

"Yeah great, just don't blow up the damn place when we get there, got it?" I say, eyes narrowed a bit at him.

"No promises."

"Ohohohoho no." I drop down, flipping in midair to stand in front of Zaeed who remains sitting. "One thing we're getting straight here Zaeed. We are not causing wanton, easily avoidable destruction and innocent casualties for you to fulfill your bloodlust for Vido. I will try and get him to you for revenge but if you endanger anyone our priority will be to make sure they're safe before going back to Vido."

"I've waited 20 years for my revenge kid. I ain't about to lose it because of you."

I lean into his face slowly "I don't give a damn how long you've been waiting Zaeed. The agreement is you don't endanger someone, I get you Vido. Plain and simple Zaeed. Hold up your part, I'll hold up mine." I step back and turn, walking out of the door and shaking my head. "Senile old codger…"

I start thinking about how to go about securing Vido without endangering the facility. It'll be annoying if Zaeed does let his rage get the best of him but if he can hold it in just long enough I should be able to get Vido. That balcony appearance is my only chance though, so I just have to make sure Zaeed doesn't shoot him first before I can get to him. All goes well I can drag him over the edge and leave him to Zaeed's tender mercies. All goes to hell, hoping it doesn't since Shepard isn't here to provoke Murphy, we fight through the refinery to Vido, only having to deal with mercs, no fires. Yeah, and then maybe I'll grow boobs and become the greatest stripper in Omega. Disturbing thought.

I step out of the elevator onto the crew decks, looking around quickly and spotting Gardner. I grab a quick space BLT sandwich and walk over to Kasumi's room, knocking on the door. I wait a minute, chewing on my sandwich before Jacob opens the door, straightening his clothes hurriedly. "yeah?"

"We're doing a couple side missions while Shepard helps Liara. We're approaching a Cerberus station and borrowing their Kodiak to use for transport in a few hours so enjoy this, you're both on the team. It's me leading, you two and Zaeed. Later" I wave, walking off as Jacob nods and closes the door. Man now that I think of it it'd be fun to have Vido run to his gunship just before Silver's colossus drops on top of it and wrecks it like an orbital bombardment shot. Oh well, this is a good sandwich though. I enjoy it for a while longer, during the ride up and walk into my room before lying on my bed and closing my eyes.

"Ah, its so peaceful…I'll just think back on all that I've done. In my time here," A minute passes. "Man, I've caused so much hell."

"You've been voted master of the 4th circle."

I turn to look at Silver "Your sarcasm is the most evolved of you humor functions…"

"We've adapted our programs mostly to mimic and deal with your personality functions."

"Muahaha, I've molded my own Geth unit!" I chuckle as Silver's facelight dims to the point of its main orb of light being pronounced as it rolls around the circle of his face. "Don't you roll your eye at me." Silver chuckles.

Man I'm going to miss having my bed to lay in while we go to handle these missions…

**Zero: Another chapter out! Aw yeah!**

**Delta: Owww, my everything hurts…**

**Zero: And you owe me $30 too. Grunt threw you off after 2 minutes.**

**Delta: I thought I could hold on for 5 at least…**

**Zero: Don't care, $30 (takes a 50 out of Delta's wallet.)**

**Delta: That's not 30!**

**Zero: Like you can do shit about it now. Peace ya'll! Next update coming soon!**


	21. Changing Resolve

**Me: *****waves***** Hello ello ello, I have returned esteemed members of the fanfiction community. Why so long? Well, my inspiration well ran dry. Only got it back running after my vacation. Of course, my laptop chose that time to take its own vacation. Wouldn't turn on no matter what for a good few weeks until one miraculous last ditch attempt in the parking lot, on a hot Sunday, inside the car at my brother's game.**

**Delta: z z Z**

**Me: (****rolls eyes)**** Anyways, on with the show, hope I don't disappoint.**

Changing Resolve

Ahhhh this is the life. No Reapers, no homicidal Geth, no private military companies to fight against, just me, a hammock, a soda, and the whole female crew in bikinis. Not like they're gonna let me anywhere near them anyways but eh, whatever. I bet Garrus and Gardner are off preparing the grill, I can't wait til we get something to eat. It feels kinda weird to be having this beach day with all that's going on, but hey if Tim says we've been working too hard and need at least one day to unwind then Im not gonna fight it. Well, until its time to eat I'm gonna take a little nap.

At that point I was flipped out of my hammock, and hit the ground hard enough to make my eyes shoot open. Instead of sandy beach I was met with rocky shores, rough waters crashing against said rocks and my legs, my armor dented and the mangled remains of the Kodiak over to our left. And right. And a few feet in the water. And some in that tree. I thing that's the door over there near the pyjak nest.

"YOU BLOOMIN IDIOT! YOU CRASHED OUR FUCKING SHIP!" Zaeed yells stomping over and kicking me in the side.

"AH! Sonuvabitch man that hurts!" 

"That's the point you fucking retard! I oughta kill you right fucking now for stranding us here on this planet!"

"Hey! I didn't know the autopilot couldn't handle landings asswipe! Why didn't you wake me up when the trouble started in the first place!"

"Autopilot?! We thought you were flying this shit heap!"

"When did I ever say I could fly this thing?! We left 15 minutes later than we would've because Shepard had to call Joker over to set up the autopilot himself!"

"If you had told us you couldn't fly this we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"If you had bothered to check what was going on now instead of thinking about who made your face as ugly as it is today, we wouldn't be in this mess either!"

At that point Zaeed tackles me and starts to punch. And it hurts. So I punch back and this continues for a good few minutes with both of us just getting more snarls and faster swipes until Kasumi and Jacob pull us apart. I'm left with several bruises on my face and a split lip while Zaeed's nose is broken and he has a swollen ear. So he got an improvement and I'm going to have an even harder time attracting girls. Awesome…

I shrug out of Jacob's grasp, ignoring his words as I stalk over to the wreckage of the Kodiak. Thankfully Mordin and I made my plasma blades well because they are still attached to my wrists and functional. Sadly the only thing salvageable from my weapons is my Cobra sniper. My plasma repeater was there but as soon as I picked it up it broke apart, the hull melted by the plasma that was released inside it, frying everything. I threw it back down in anger, and picked up an m-5 phalanx, detaching the laser pointer from my mangled one and attaching it to this. I put my Cobra across my back and the pistol to my hip and looked at the others. Jacob had a mattock rifle and Katana shotgun while Kasumi had the Locust. I blink for a second then look around.

"Where's Silver?" I ask.

"We are 5 meters ahead Delta. Enemy forces spotted and approaching crash site location. Designation: Blue Suns. 3 Batarian-Mercenaries, 2 Human-Mercenaries."

"Whats your loadout?"

"We are currently equipped with a Plasma Shotgun and Vindicator Assault rifle. Our Phasic Rifle was not salvageable."

I nod though he can't see, jogging up towards his position and pulling on my helmet while unholstering the Cobra "Wait for my shot before engaging. Tell me when they're in range."

"Acknowledged."

I move up quickly, adjusting myself to the limp in my left leg with a grunt. Soon I see Silver's chassis nearly hidden by some deep foliage and a fallen tree on the path. Looking at the tree in front of him he seems to be using something to cover his glowing lenses, probably some leaves. They seem mostly angled so they cover his more reflective body parts from the front so no flashing alerts anyone. I crouch once he's in view and proceed slowly, Cobra up and scanning through the scope for the targets. I soon see them, coming from the right side near some more of the foliage near the treeline. I check their armor, seeing one guy with a star ornamentation and guessing he's the group leader. I breathe slowly, centering the sights on his head and waiting for Silver to say they're in range for him. I feel rather than see Kasumi sneak past me as her cloak activates and Jacob drops down behind me.

"In range." I let off my first shot of the fight. Instead of the flaring of shields and explosion of gore from the head only half of what I expected came to fruition. The shields flared as the round broke through but it hit him in the chest. I paused for a couple seconds as he reeled in pain and sent a second round into him., flooring the man. Kasumi came out of stealth and knocked one of the batarians to the ground, cancelling out his shields and opening fire with her smg on the other one. Zaeed gunned down the Batarian as he tried to stand while Jacob went forward with his Mattock and fired into the head of the second human. The third Batarian was put down by 2 bursts of Silver's Vindicator.

"Good job guys" I said while moving forward and scooping several heat sinks from the body of the an I killed, then walked to one side opposite of a tree and aiming at it. I lowered the gun and adjusted the sights slightly before aiming again and taking the shot. I repeated this process two more times until satisfied, nodding to myself and looking over to Zaeed as he finished fiddling with his omni tool while crouched over one of the bodies. A voice came on over our headsets, telling the Blue Suns to take positions and dig in.

"Guess they figured crash and lost soldiers mean invading force." I say, starting to walk forward. I replace the heat sink in my gun putting it away as we move on, Silver and Zaeed on my left with Jacob and Kasumi on my right. We get to a fuel line area with a bridge over a rive that has been retracted. I stand in direct sight of about 20 Blue suns mercs for a couple seconds while the others move to cover. I dive to the side as a rocket shoots for me. Rolling I end up behind cover with Zaeed. The two of us look at each other and grunt before pulling out our guns and popping up to crack heads. I drop back down and tuck my Cobra away, stealthing and drawing my pistol. I sneak up behind a group of five near the back behind some cover and foliage, lifting my gun to the back of one mans head and pulling the trigger. 2 shots on shield and a final to break the head I twist, stabbing down into the chest of the guy beside me. I drag him in front, using him as a shield and his comrades as the weapons as I reposition my gun, blasting another man down. I holster the pistol, using both hands to toss my meat shield into the two remaining mercs, throwing them off balance and lunging forward, making my blades extend and thin to stab straight through their helmets. When the last body drops I turn and see the area clear. I meet up with everyone and go to the bridge, opening it and starting to walk across to the refinery we can see over the crest of this small hill.

"Alright lets get this over with. Jacob you lead the group into the refinery gate, I'll scout ahead." He nods to me and my active camo turns on. I disappear from the group and move forward, stalking ahead at a faster pace than the others. As soon as I step past the gates I see Vido up on the balcony, anticipating the arrival of whoever he suspects is attacking him. I look around for a minute, deciding where and how to scale the wall up to his balcony. I move to the right, activating my booster pack and having the antigravity make me light enough to jump to the ledge halfway between the floor and the balcony. I perch on the ledge just as Jacob walks through the gate with the group. Vido steps forward along with Zaeed, a sneer on his face.

"Zaeed?" Vido says with a voice laden in surprise, contempt and pickle sandwiches "I thought you were dead. I shot you myself."

"Rage is a hell of an anasthetic." Zaeed growls, glaring at him. I take this opportunity to hop onto the railing and look around the balcony. Just the two merc guards and Vido himself here. Easy pickings. I lunge forward and grab one of the guards, throwing him against the wall behind us then pop the second guards head point blank with my Cobra. By this time I've come out of stealth completely and stab down, cutting through his left thigh and tearing it out to cripple his leg. I sheathe my Cobra and blade, grabbing Vido by the shoulders and shoving him off the balcony. While not a terribly high fall it is a painful drop, evidenced by Jacob and Kasumi's synchronized flinch and hiss. I look around a bit, ignoring Zaeed beginning his speech as I searched for some controls to the gate. Lo and behold I find them adjacent to a stairwell to the ground floor. I walk down them to the sound of grinding gears as the gate is lowered and step out to see Vido getting savagely beaten by Zaeed.

I watch this spectacle for a good few minutes, Vido yelling out in pain, Zaeed grunting with effort, fists smacking against various fleshy bits and armor. Jacob, Kasumi and Silver have all walked to my side by now and are watching as well. Just when I thought I should intervene Zaeed gives a heavy right hook to Vido and stands, spitting at his as he walks towards us, pulls out his pistol and points it behind him to fire two shots that put Vido down on hit. He grunts as he steps by us and holsters his pistol before taking out an assault rifle.

"Alright. Let's get the hell of this fuckin planet." He blinks then looks and glares at me "Wait, the fuckin team leader crashed our fuckin ship."

I just rolled my eyes and walked away "We're going to borrow the Blue Sun's ship asswipe. Now get moving, we have to clear the unwanted guests from our new ship." I say as I turn a corner and gun down a Blue suns merc, taking his vindicator rifle. I pop the heat sink and replace it, heading into the refinery with the intent to kill anything wearing blue armor that has Zaeed's face imaginatively superimposed over the helmet. It was already proving cathartic, though would've been bad if anyone had caught me the one time I had let a comment like "Die you dirty old bastard..." but my helmet speakers and mic were off so I was safe. I think. I frown as we step through a door to see a large area with piping curling along the floor, machinery chugging away at the center of the wall our door is on and at the opposite right corner of the room. Across the room was another door on a ledge with a gap between the two sections of the room and a bridge withdrawn into the ledge.

"I have a bad feeling…"

"Delta, sensors indicate a large amount of enemy troop movement directed here. Advise to seek cover."

"Good idea." We all duck and roadie run to a piece of piping or machinery just as a burst of automatic fire flies at our positions. 2 squads of 6 Blue Suns mercs have just entered from opposite doors halfway through the room, and are slowly moving to cover while laying down suppressive fire. I peek over the wall to see where they are, calculating my options for a second before chucking a grenade over and smirking as it slips through one of the slightly dented sections of the piping and between the group on the left. I bring my Cobra up just as the bang goes off, a large explosion of force and fire echoing out as two of the men are taken down immediately and burnt to ash while 3 others are pushed away and against the piping, shields downed with a crackle of electricity. One man was blasted so his upper torso was almost on top of the pipes and another was pushed against it but only his head was enough out of cover for danger. I shot the guy who was low, dropping him forward while Silver took his Vindicator and fired a quick burst into the other mans head. I hop over our piping and dash forward, sliding to a stop behind the piping the group previously inhabited. I reach over and grab the last man, pulling him and myself up and stabbing him in the chest before dropping the body.

With a quick check I can see Jacob hitting one of the other groups soldiers with his mattock before holstering it and pulling out his shotgun to blast another one handed. Kasumi had just reappeared and shot down 2 others with her Locust and pistol, taking them by surprise with her cloak and Zaeed had kicked a guy down the gap while snapping the 6th's neck. At the sound of grinding I look behind to see two doors open on the wall behind me, with 10 Blue Suns coming out accompanied by a large YMIR mech.

"Fuckin hell!" Zaeed swears and I look back as I dash to cover with Silver, seeing the same group come out of another door beside Jacob, Zaeed, and Kasumi. I drop in next to Silver, seeing the others get to cover as well while the YMIRs step out and unload rounds and a couple rockets at us. With a quick peek that lasts a second before I pull back to avoid a barrage of bullets hitting the corner I saw enough to guess that the mercs were now in cover and the Ymirs were before them providing suppressive fire. Too perfect.

"Silver. Make some friends." I say, turning to my Geth compatriot.

"Acknowledged." The fire stops suddenly, replaced with some sparking sounds and grinding metal as the YMIRs are hacked and reset to follow Silver's orders. I see a brief flash of coding over his eye then look back to see the YMIRs heads make angry faces and start firing bullets and rockets at the entrenched mercs. There's a about 5 seconds of yelling, gunfire, explosions and thumps of bodies hitting the floor before things grow silent. Then a high pitched noise keens out, signaling the mech cores going critical and exploding in a miniature mushroom cloud.

"Alright, lets get out of here before anyone else shows up. I say, hopping over and jogging to where the bridge connects, glad to see a control panel. I frown when upon closer inspection I see a few rounds had impacted the casing, making it spark and the buttons fade in and out. I give it a good kick and the bridge opens out. "Fixed it!"

I walk across the bridge to the door opening it and smiling as I see the Mantis ahead. I smirk and stealth creeping up to it and stepping inside to see about 5 more mercs sitting in their seats and one in the pilot seat of the gunship. Looking at the controls we both scan over them and while he remains nonchalant I smirk, my suspicions having been confirmed and my day getting a good notch. Now I am to enact phase 2 of the plan. I lift both my hands and bring out the blade in one, pushing his head forward with one while stabbing straight through to the brain with the other. He dies with barely a sound, allowing me to walk back out through the gunship while slitting the throats of each seated merc as I step past. I stand on the entry ramp and unstealth to see everyone come up.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, your chariot awaits." I say with a smirk. We get in, clear out the bodies by unceremoniously dumping them over the edge of the landing pad before everyone gets inside the gunship and straps in. I get in the pilots seat, bringing up a small interface to get the access clearance codes from the pilot I killed programmed into the Gunships automated clearance protocol program. Closing the hatch I start it up, pulling up slightly before heading forward and slowly ascending until I break atmosphere.

"So Delta, what's the plan? We're not going to get far in this gunship." Jacob says.

"Well of course not. The Blue Suns didn't. This is just our ride to our ride."

"Shepard was right… you are fucking insane." Zaeed mutters.

"You plan to have us hijack a Blue suns cruiser?" Kasumi says incredulously.

"Why yes. From what I saw over their channel, the cruiser is currently running on a skeleton crew, so if anything the force will only be as large as the one on the refinery, and less capable too. They had their longest veterans there alongside Vido for his protection." I say, smirking as the cruiser appears through the window of the Mantis. One of the hangar doors drudge open as we near it, allowing entry into a small space likely reserved for this Mantis entirely. I power down the gunship and lean back in my chair as Silver walks up. We look at each other and turn back to the window while chitters and crinkling noises sound in Silvers head until voila! A schematic of the cruiser we are in appears on the window. It seems to have 4 hangars, 2 on each side, 2 reserved for troop transport Mantis and 2 more reserved for a modified troop transport mantis outfitted with a larger, stronger engine for heavy lifting, likely ground vehicles or Ymir mechs. One of them is still in its hangar and both regular troop transport Mantises are here counting ours. The Cruiser itself isn't much longer than the Normandy SR2 but it certainly is quite a bit wider. There are 2 point defense turrets on both the starboard and port sides of the ship, 1 PDT at the nose just below the bridge, and a few dozen javelin missile pods along each wing. The armor is standard military issue so it's a good defense. The icing on the cake though is that in the past hour only about 15 different personal comm. signals have run through the ships system. I chuckled at this.

"We have a real bare skeleton crew here." I say, looking to Silver. "Good work. Now lets do some spring cleaning." My mood just continued to improve. One loyalty mission is down and we're about to seize a cruiser. If only Shepard could see me now. I'll have to give her a call after this. I smirk and turn to see the rest of the group looking at the information as well.

"See this? Piece of cake. This is why you guys put your trust in my work. I always get good results."

"Well, I had nearly no faith in you but Shepard said to trust you. Guess you really can come out of a crap situation on top." Says Kasumi, looking at the scattered dots of people using comms. I frown at her while Jacob merely chuckles.

"Gotta say I'm impressed. I was skeptical after the Kodiak crashed but now. Well, seems like we get a new ship."

"Fuckin lucky little kid I say. They always did seem to get more and more stupid after I left." Zaeed mutters.

I'm torn between frowning and smirking in smugness but instead decide to focus my attention on the map. I see the dots starting to move towards the bunks and the bridge. Seems they're consolidating for their night shift and rest times. Perfect.

"Alright, we have two main groups now. Silver, Jacob, Zaeed, go to the crew bunks, eliminate everyone there. Kasumi and I are going to take out everyone in the bridge." I order. Everyone nods and moves off, Kasumi and I hang back as I close up the Mantis and walk out. Silver sends me a note saying he'll remotely loop any ship cameras on the way to the bunks so they retain the element of surprise, and most importantly we do. I look at Kasumi and stealth, silently signaling her to do the same, which she does. The two of us then quickly and silently make our way to the bridge. Switching to thermals I look inside, taking note of 7 heat sources each at a computer but all a good distance from each other.

"You get the 3 on the right. I'll get the 3 on the left and the one at the center console." She nods and the door slides open a bit so we both slip in. We move quickly and I watch Kasumi come out of stealth while snapping one guy's neck before placing her pistol at a second mans head and pulling the trigger. When he goes limp her foot shoots up, snapping the third guys neck back and dropping him quickly. As soon as she attacked I stabbed two of the men on the left in the back of the head before whipping a blade out, spinning and jamming it into the 3rd guys chest. At the center console the man who seems to be the captain jumps up, fumbling slightly for a pistol to point at Kasumi. Just when he pulls it out I use my pack to boost a jump, knocking into his back and twisting him around to stab him in the heart then drop him to the side. I look around with a smirk, glad to see that everyone was neutralized quickly and none of the consoles were damaged, my whole reason for having Kasumi join me instead of Jacob or Zaeed. Kasumi drops around into the head of the man she kicked, making sure he's dead.

"Delta, we have the crew bunks neutralized. We're all clear." I chuckle.

"Great! Gentlemen, Lady, Robot, this cruiser is now ours! Silver, how many programs must you divert for controlling the ship?"

"…We conclude that all programs would be needed, and a hardwire connection is necessary for secure transfer." He responds, metal clanking sounding in the background as I suspect hes making his way up. Lo and behold, our metallic savior comes from on high upon a chrome steed of coding and sparks! Huzzah! Hm, I wonder if I could dress up the colossus like a horse. I could have it moved into here actually. Not like I'm going to get rid of this cruiser, oh hell no. Silver can contact the Geth for me, see if they can hold onto it for a while. Having my own ship at my command… hehe, its like I'm living out my Star Conflict game.

"We are fully assimilated. Course set for planet Aeia. Opening contact with Shepard-Commander." What? NO!

"SILVER, NO!"

The line rings a few times before opening "This is Specialist Kelly of the Normandy SR2 . Who is speaking?" Oh that's right, Kelly IS the secretary. Along with the mind-scanner girl.

"Hey Kells, its Johnny from the psychology seminar, calling to see if you're coming by the Citadel anytime soon, we can catch up, have lunch, relive that last Friday night with the whipped cream-"

I hear some thumps and grumbles from the other line along with a sigh "Delta, what do you want and where are you calling from? This isn't the contact line for the Kodiak."

Oh, Shepards there too. "Uh, hehe, hey Shepard…Um, yeah, about the Kodiak…"

"What did you do."

"It crashed. Not my fault, there was a malfunction in the landing system!"

"You crashed the Kodiak!? What the hell Delta!"

"Hey I said it wasn't my fault! If anything it was Jokers! He programmed the autopilot!"

"Don't try to blame this on me! I programmed that thing just fine, with all the parameters it needed! If anything it was that stupid Cerberus tech that messed it up probably!" I forgot Joker likes to listen in on these calls sometimes. Probably chose to when I was talking to Kelly. I look behind to see Zaeed and Jacob walk, small smirks on their faces. I look back to the console and am pleased to see squares set up across the view screen, still photos of Kelly, Shepard and Joker in them with voice wave indicators underneath each shot that vibrate when someone speaks.

"Might I remind you Mr. Moreau, that that "stupid Cerberus tech" is the very ship you are piloting right now?" Miranda interjects, and her face pops up in another square. I chuckle.

"Yeah well the SR2 has two things countering the Cerberus tech, my old girl's spirit and me!" Joker responds defiantly.

Shepard's wave indicator tremors as s low sigh comes out of her, nearly unheard.

"In that aspect I must correct you Joker. Your "old girl" is not onboard the ship, as I am the only AI currently on board." And suddenly, EDI. Silver seems to have left her with a moving head, likely getting the image from her directly.

"No, you're just here to handle a few things but my old girls spirit is in every part of the ship, making her run better!" Joker says.

"No, every part of the ship is made to run better by the software and hardware upgrades that we implement, courtesy of our crew, Mr. Moreau!"

"They help, but the Normandy gives a good kick in the pants"

"ENOUGH!" Shepard yells. " Joker, shut up, Miranda, stop spying on my calls, and Delta, WHERE ARE YOU CALLING FROM!"

I flinch a bit at the volume and can practically see Shepards tired and angered face. They're probably working their way over to the Shadow Broker now, might even be in the system where he is. "I'm calling from a Blue Suns cruiser we've seized."

"…You took over a cruiser?"

"Uh…yeah?" I respond tentatively. I wait for a few seconds before Shepard's face disappears from the grid of squares, then Silver speaks up.

"EDI has informed us that Shepard-commander left the room, muttering something about "stupid, lucky-ass children not being worth her time."

"Ouch…."

Kelly picks the conversation back up "She doesn't mean it. She wouldn't really say it often but she was worried about you guys. Especially Delta since he's so headstrong and still in that "invincible-teenager" stage of mindset. Then finding out you actually completed the mission and captured a ship on top of that is a mess on her nerves."

"Yeah, Kelly's right in that area." Joker adds. "I'm kind of insulted though, guess you got so tired of me flying you around the whole universe you decided to get your own cruiser huh? "

I chuckle with Joker. "Nah, you still get to chauffer me around clown-boy. We can't use this thing all the time, gotta keep something like this in reserve. Ok guys, tell Shepard we'll be alright, we're on our way to Aeia now. We'll be done and back soon. Delta out." They say their goodbyes before I close the link and sit back in the captain's chair. I look around with a slight smirk. I own a ship now. A decent sized cruiser that's about a head longer and a wing wider then the Normandy with almost twice its weaponry loadout. This seems like one of their less war, more travel ships, since there's more consoles for managing things than there are things to manage. Zaeed, Jacob and Kasumi say goodnight, which I barely register and wave back in time as they head out to go to bed. I merely lean further back in the chair and watch as stars fly to us, by us and then more appear in front while Silver guides the ship through the sea of black waters and white dots towards the nearest Mass relay. I open my omni tool and bring up the writing function.

Shepard,

Sorry to worry you. I know you can't help it and I can't change it. I appreciate that you care though. I really do. Because of that, I will do everything I can to make sure I always come back alive. Might be with a few scrapes and bumps, a laceration or two but I will. So please do the same, and not just for me but for everyone. The Shadow Broker is dangerous, you know this, Liara knows this, everyone knows it. He has a huge reputation and it isn't built on handing out flowers and chocolates. So be careful, and come back alive please. You're closer to being invincible than I am, I'm still getting the experience I need.

With that I sign off on the end and send it through the usual lines, heading straight for Shepard's Omni tool. Miranda's likely to screen it first and get the bug I had Silver add that would change her desktop wallpaper to a picture of Jacob shirtless and have other pictures of the like pop up on her screen randomly for the next five days. I'm not sure if she'll like it or hate it, probably both. Well, I won't be in any real trouble unless Kasumi finds out I took them from her personal collection. I chuckle, seeing a Mass relay coming up and wishing I had my xbox for a second.

Oh well, guess I'll see how much the Fakku community's grown til I pass out.

**Me: WOOOO new chappie done! Working on another one immediately after so expect it soon!**

**Delta: That is unless we get swamped with work later this week. **

**Me: Oh shut it! Besides it might be a while before anyone finds us again.**

**Delta: Good, gives me time to plan out improvements to the cruiser. Hehe, yeah!**

**Me: This will be a fun addition to our future arsenal, kekekeke.**


	22. Change of Past

**Me: A new chapter! Sound the horns! Raise the gates! Let it through, let it through!**

**Delta: WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN!?**

**Me: SHUT UP! I'll explain later!**

* * *

><p>Change of Past<p>

Z Z Z…horsehead guys… Vanilla-lanche…z z Z…Avoid the traps….burn the yaoi…z z Z.

"Delta, we are approaching our destination. Achieving orbit in 15 minutes." Silver says loudly, stirring me from my sleep. I slowly open my eyes with a yawn and start to stretch, grimacing at the slight cramp in my neck from falling asleep at the captain's chair/console. I stand and start walking out the door, headed for the mess hall. The door to it opens as I step near, showing Zaeed, Jacob and Kasumi there already.

"Good morning guys! What's on the menu for breakfast today? Oh look, delicious, delicious MRE's. Fucking blue suns." I sit down with a fork and start choking down the nutrient rich food. Thank god the servings are small.

"We can't do much about it Delta. Just eat it quickly." Jacob says.

"I know but you can't say you don't hate it. It tastes worse than the crap Gardner used to put together_ before_ Shepard got him those new supplies."

Jacob shrugs as he takes another bite. Kasumi just grimaces, struggling with it like I am. Zaeed's plate is empty and he's just polishing a knife he must've found somewhere across from us.

"You and Ms Goto over there are too spoiled, you know that? That stuff's got enough nutrients to keep you going for almost a full day of fighting."

I roll my eyes, stuffing more of what looks like mashed potatoes seasoned with cat piss down my throat. Oh god, I'm making this even worse for myself. Damn you mind!

"You know I have this usual rule of thumb for things." I say, poking the meat, which is as dense as a brick. "If it looks like shit, tastes like shit, and smells like shit, its very likely to be shit. Or poison disguised as shit."

"There are no traces of poison or outside tampering within the stocks of MRE's Delta. They are merely highly nutritional servings of food." Silver says through the ships PA.

"Using the term 'food' for this stuff is debatable Silver." I respond, tapping my fork against the edge of the empty platter.

"Regardless. We are now in orbit around Aeia. We've pinpointed the source of the distress beacon and placed a waypoint in the Mantis navigation unit to denote a suitable landing point nearby."

I sigh, hopping up from my seat and heading over to the armory where my weapons and armor are stashed. "Alright team, let's lock and load, time to find a missing father." The others get up and follow, having stashed their necessities away in the same room. I pick up my Cobra, Phalanx and stolen Vindicator, attaching them to my back and hip respectively. After making sure my armor is fully on, weapons stored, plasma blade modules firmly set and helmet nearby I pause for a second. I close the cabinet my armor was set in, my jet pack system still inside it.

"Not feeling up to flying huh?" Jacob asks, standing beside me with his shotgun shifting to standby.

"Nah, Silver needs to stay here and monitor the ship. He was the one whose fine-tuning actually made it possible for me to fly without crashing. I'll have to work on it to make it so I can use it independently. Oh well, a project for a later day." I remark, turning and heading for the Mantis hangar.

I embark, starting up the flight routines and powering the machine as Kasumi, Jacob and Zaeed climb on and grab their seats. Soon enough the Mantis is up and the hangar doors sliding open before it as I pilot it down to the planet before us. We cruise down, flying over the ocean until reaching a rocky coast at which I turn left to follow it. After following the coast for a few minutes the crash site starts to come into view when the hulk of the dead ship towers over the rocks.

"Found the crash site." I tell everyone. Once within 300 meters a waypoint pops up on the nav screen, signaling our landing area. "Landing in 10 minutes."

I lock up the Mantis after we've landed and everyone's disembarked, closing the entrance hatch and walking over towards the wreck with the team. The ship loomed high above us, tall and imposing in its obvious years of abandonment. I half expected to pry open a door a few feet inside and be met with a shambling corpse that would try to eat me before its mutated brethren made the same attempt. Still, I doubt we'll find Isaac in there if we go looking so I think we're good. Pretty soon we reach the top portion of the ship, positioned right at the coast while the rest of the hulk lies in the water. A bridge descends to the ground from the airlock and a glowing blue pad is active beside it, displaying a VI man who immediately notices us.

"Repeat Toxology report: Danger of rapid neural decay. Local flora chemically incompatible with human physiology." It says as we walk up.

"This beacon looks like it's been up for a while. Wonder why it's active now." Jacob remarks, looking down at the holoprojector base.

The image shifts suddenly and jerkily, displaying the years of disuse and corrupted data. "Pause in beacon protocol: 8years, 237 days, 7 hours. Pause is recorded as; Record deleted, by acting captain Ronald Taylor."

"Wait… my Father was first officer. Something's not right." Jacob says.

"Ronald Taylor was promoted under emergency command protocols. Other flagged issues: Unsafe deceleration. Local food and neural decay. Beacon activation protocols." The Vi says. I look up at the ship behind it, noticing it was stripped of a good amount of its metal plating as well.

"They had a beacon and my father hadn't signaled for nine years. Maybe that neural decay affected him." Jacob says.

"Probably" I reply. I turn and look up the path, seeing a large assortment of crates, probably taken down and emptied already. If I recall correctly there should be someone there. I walk over looking around and coming near a crate lying lengthwise on the floor, seeing a few locks of black hair peek up over the edge. I watch it, then a second later a woman's head pops up and she looks at me before her eyes widen and she moves, jumping up and rushing around to stand in front.

"You came! From the sky! The leader said someone would come, but he delayed for so long. But he still has power!" She says, sounding excited and happy. A frown grows across her face as she turns to the side slightly. "Some have lost faith. The hunters, they will have seen your star, they will not let you help him!" She says, turning back to look at me slowly.

"What do you mean?" I say.

"I don't remember how to say it…" She starts, speaking slowly, the struggle to remember evident in her eyes as they cast about. "He is our leader, and we serve him so, we can go home. But some want to fight him. They were, they were cast out. He exiled them, so they hunt his machines and those who help him." She says. Meanwhile I look behind, noticing some movement. I see a couple hunched backs, letting me know that the hunters made their entrance. I see one start to stand up, pulling out a gun.

"Hold that thought," I say, pushing the girl back behind a couple stacked crates so she's covered then sprint forward. This obviously surprises the man as he hadn't centered his gun yet and his shots mostly go wild though a few bounce off my shields. I hop over and kick the man in the face, knocking him back while I take out my plasma blades and bury them in the chests of his two companions beside him.

With the threats neutralized I look back to see the others moving up towards me.

"You handled that well." Kasumi says, looking down at the corpses quickly. I nod at her, stepping back from them a bit more and turning to see a broken LOKI mech around a corner.

"Huh, seems we'll have to deal with robots here. And here we are without our hacking AI."

"Silver definitely would've made this easier to deal with." Jacob remarks.

"Oi, you think some measly bots from some fuckin exploration rig are gonna be tricky? Did I ever tell you about the time I had to fight my way out of a whole bloody robot factory with just a team of 2 at my back?" Zaeed puts in, coming up behind everyone. Looking over him I noticed the woman from earlier making herself look as small as possible while peeking over the edge of the cover I put her behind. I let her go, figuring she'd return to the settlement we're headed to right after we leave. She probably plans to trail far behind so we take care of any remaining hunters before they try and take her.

I start walking forward and roll my eyes as Zaeed starts his story, Seeming to mostly be talking to Jacob and Kasumi who are listening likely if only to hear of any other methods to take down a robot that Zaeed might've figured out in his adventure.

So in the span of 2 minutes I've learned that yes, all of Zaeed's missions with him as leader end with his whole squad dead, robots can be made and programmed to shoot anything organic really quickly, and a LOKI mech's head makes for a good bowling ball. I look ahead and notice that we are approaching a settlement, likely the one the first girl was from, considering all the people there are women.

"Jacob, do you have Arabic roots, because it looks like someone's got the harem of a Sheikh."

"Well, let's hope they're friendly then. I need answers." Jacob says, eyes narrowed some.

"The people here are a lot calmer than those guys. They all seem to be of the same group though."

I place a hand on my chin in a half Thinker's pose. "Probably how the local food worked. Neural decay propably caused a regression of higher thinking to be more like bursts of clarity while instincts and genetic memory guided most actions and behaviors. Ever since the Cro-magnon males were the warriors, females were the docile stay-at-home halves of the society. The regressions probably revived that old status quo, and the dominant male has exiled his competitors from the group"

"Are you saying my father's acting like some Silverback?" Jacob says, slight disbelief in his tone. I chuckle and glance towards the settlement, noticing a large statue and some of the women gathering before us.

"You have his face. He promised to call the sky but he sends nothing." One woman from the group says sounding disappointed.

Another speaks up, "He forced us to eat. To decay. You are cursed with his face!" She ends a bit loudly and seems saddened yet vindictive. While she points her finger in Jacobs face. They disperse after that brief encounter and I just shake my head and start walking through the encampment, grabbing credits and a few software upgrades and research information.

Jacob walks up to the statue at the center of the camp, scanning up and down it. "What the hell. Someone had to push them to make that. That's borderline worship."

I look to the side, seeing Kasumi standing by a group of three. I faintly hear "He keeps us. Protects us. And we please him like he demands." Something flashes my eye and I see a group of 3 LOKI mechs walk from around a corner. The women near me who notice them run back to drop behind cover, the rest of the camp following suit to we're the only ones out in the open. The mechs respond likewise and close in on us, detecting our weaponry.

"Your captain demands obedience. Weapons are forbidden." They say, pointing their pistols at us. I take a second to wonder why no ones ever programmed a Loki to be able to use a shotgun or assault rifle. It would've added some variety to the mechs combat abilities at least, seriously. Oh well, contemplation over, lets duck back behind this cover here because they're shooting at us. "Jacob, I don't think they're friendly."

"Yeah, I gathered that much" He says as he pulls out his Mattock and shoots one in the head a few times, knocking it to the ground and making it blow up beside its buddies. The other two mechs take damage to their armor and the closest one falls, knocking over the second, making it easy for us to shoot them both in the head and watch them explode as well. I look into the crate beside me and blink once, then twice in disbelief. I smirk, jam my hand in and pull out a big red button attached to nothing but its base, put it on top of the crate in front of the others and press it.

"That was easy." The Easy button says. I smile. Everyone else just stares at it.

"Fuckin hell?" Zaeed mutters. I pick up the button and place it in my armors hardcase.

We walk towards the path to further inland, likely to where the captain would be until we're waylaid by a young woman dressed differently from the others.

"You have his face… But you fight his…machines. You might stop this." She says, pulling a datapad out of a crate she stood beside. She hands it to Jacob. "This. I forget how to…read, but this…was the start. What he promised, and what they did to us." She starts backing away after he takes the pad. "We need the sky. Take us back to the sky."

We watch her walk away while Jacob looks through the datapad.

"Ok, what the fuck was she talking about?" Kasumi asks.

"Good question. Jacob, da fuq is she talking about?" I ask him.

"It's a crew logbook. Talks about how the crew was worried over how long the beacon repairs were taking. They were concerned with losing their minds to the decay. My father reserved the ship food for himself and the other officers, the crew was left with the local food and had to hope for treatment later. A few mutinied over the decision and my father and the others turned the mechs on them."

"Ok, so he didn't garner enough trust alone so he used force." I say in response.

"It doesn't end there. There are deaths listed after the decision. Harsh punishments. After a year all the male crew members are listed as either dead or exiled. And the women are separated, assigned to officers like pets!" Jacob says, growing angry. "Even then after the beacon is noted to be fixed the officers start appearing as casualties too! My father took control of this and didn't stop it!"

"You got any idea what he's thinking?" I ask.

"No. Nothing fits. I can see the initial decision but everything else? No, this is abuse of power, this is the clearest form of it. I need to find this man." Jacob says, eyes narrowed.

"Then let's transform and roll out Autobots!" I say, turning and walking up the path with my Cobra unholstered. I immediately find our path blocked by boxes.

"DAMMIT!" I yell out, kicking one of the boxes. The crate lid cracks open, revealing an explosive. I open it fully, smile then mess with them for a second. I dash back past the team as they come up behind me "HIT THE DECK!" I say, diving forward. They look back, hear a beep and dive as well, though Jacobs a bit late and is thrown slightly further than us from the shockwave catching his back as the boxes all explode.

"Hehehehe, that was awesome." I say, getting up and brushing myself off. I look behind to see Kasumi, Zaeed, and Jacob a little irritated "Oh hush. You know it was." I start walking ahead. Ignoring as Jacob nails the back of my helmet with a rock. After a few feet they seemed to have started following again. Up the path there's a short hillside with corpses placed at the base.

"Seems like the oldest one was a warning. The other's were shot and left." Jacob says, looking at them as we pass.

"The Hunters have been fighting back again it seems." I say, trudging up the hillside. "Well, I think we have some company you guys. Let's show them a good time!" I say, the clacking of activating mechs sounding faint over the edge and growing quieter as my cloak turns on, shrouding me from sight. I move quickly, cresting the hillside and moving past a group of 4 mechs standing by some crates. I look around, noting the long crate standing straight at the crest of the hill, marking the entrance of the campsite. There are 3 more crates arranged in an "L" towards the left and another group at the center like a mirror, with a large shipping block beside it. 2 of the mechs are positioned at the left L, unfolding from behind it while one is moving towards the upright crate at the front. I position myself over the last mech which is unfolding behind the center L. I wait a minute until I see Jacob, Kasumi and Zaeed start shooting at the first mech before stabbing down with my blade and throwing the robot beside the entrenched pair. It blows up, knocking them out of cover and damaging their shields, making quick work of the mechs for the others.

We look around quickly, and turn as three more mechs walk out from behind a box nearby. They're all dropped as soon as they step out of cover by a flurry of headshots. I hop over a crate, walk toward what looks to be the sister side of this temporary camp, a tent hung over a few opened crates. Finding a few thermal clips I snatch em up, tossing them behind towards my companions to help them reload their weapons. Suddenly my shields take a hit as even more mechs come from around a bend in the road heading up.

"These guys are pretty annoying…" I say, lifting up my Vindicator and shooting a few bursts. Of the mechs drop, one from my fire and the second from a well-placed shot by Kasumi. Zaeed merely lifts up his assault rifle and unloads a full clip and downs the next two while Jacob's shotgun gets the last one.

We start walking up the road, bashing in the heads of two more latecomer mechs with the butt of our weapons at the turn. "Ok. So who thinks we should smack the crap out of Jacob's dad?" I unholster my Cobra, lifting the rifle's scope up to my eye and see what I knew was ahead, 3 more Loki's. 3 shots later we get a little fireworks display as we walk towards the gate to our objective, the hideout of Jacob's father.

"I'm all for it." Zaeed mutters gruffly. I kinda expected him to be willing to punch someone.

"Not until I've heard what he has to say." Jacob says in a somewhat stern manner. It's like he thinks he's my babysitter yet at the same time thinks he should just ignore me. Fun.

"Right right, we let him plead his case. Then punch him." Is my response.

Walking through the gates we immediately come under fire from several things. 4 brainwashed guards, 2 of them apparently combat engineers since they also spawned combat drones which popped up and shocked me in the ass. Blew that fucker up immediately. And a lovely, shielded, armored, YMIR mech.

"Are you serious?! I leave Silver on the ship and we get a YMIR to deal with!? Fuck!" I yell out, pretty pissed to have forgotten about this. I let the Ymir know of my displeasure by shooting at its head with disruptor ammo from my Cobra. It fires a rocket saying 'fuck you'. To my surprise the crate I was perched behind blows up from said rocket, knocking me back and halving my shield strength. Zaeed, Kasumi and Jacob focus their fire on the Ymir. Its shields die with a spark and it has trouble deciding who to shoot because as soon as it's locked onto someone they either duck under cover or disappear only for someone else at a different angle to pop up and fire at it. With its armor chipped and broken almost everywhere the inner mechanisms and core of the mech are slowly revealed.

Jacob is crouched behind a steel box, noticing a leg servo open and facing towards him. He pops up lining his rifle up and unloads on it, sparks and shrapnel blasting off as the servo is quickly destroyed. Behind him one of the combat engineers points his gun and drone at him, interrupted by a tap on the shoulder.

"Sup?" My plasma blade sparks to life and shines for barely half a second before I plunge it into the guys neck. His drone sputters out and dies at the same time as he coughs out a last breath. I grab his gun, point it at the man's soldier partner and fire at his chest, tearing away his shields. With those down I kill him with a roundhouse, snapping his neck and twisting his head to a grotesque angle. Oddly beautiful, yet gut-wrenching. Behind me the other pair stand together, their attention on me now. A drone flies up and immediately zaps me so I punch it, my fist going through the flimsy metal housing the flying and weapon part of the drone while its holographic body fades. With the first guy's gun still in hand I toss it forward and catch one across the face. As he stumbles back into his friend I put my hands together and form an 8-foot plasma blade which I use to skewer them both.

Soon as their bodies fall to the floor with their blood evaporating in a low sizzle I turn around to see the Ymir fall to the ground, all its joints sparking as the glowing circuitry of its body slowly dies.

"Enough with the toys. I need to look my father in the eye, hear him justify this." Jacob declares, stepping angrily out of cover and towards the door that holds our target. The door opens wide, showing a balcony made of red and brown metal overlooking a rocky bay. To the side sits a large king sized bed, with crates around it serving as a makeshift desk and bedside table. At the center of the balcony sits an actual table large enough for two to three people, with plates, utensils and a few cups sitting on it. Behind the table, standing against the railing is a man, likely in his 50s who immediately turns towards us.

"You're here, I knew a real squad would get through just fine. I'm sorry if the mechs scuffed your pads." He says, turning and lifting a hand in greeting. He looks between all of us, first at myself standing at the head of the group. With my visor polarized it seems a lot easier for someone to think I'd be an imposing commander-soldier. Sweeeeet, thank you Spartan armor! The guy doesn't even look at Jacob, though he seems like an older version of him except with more flab, beard and eyes capable of narrowing an extra inch. "I'll get you something nice when we get back to Alliance space. Gotta have some backpay coming."

I slowly walk past the guy as he speaks, leaning against the rail and looking out with just a slight glance back to Jacob. It's his show after all.

Jacob walks up and stands about 10 feet away from his dad's right side with arms folded as he leans against a nearby crate, probably housing some of the food the captain kept for himself. "What about your crew 'Acting Captain'?" He says, the last two words rolling out with a hint of venom.

He barely even glances at Jacob while answering, instead deciding to maintain his attention on my back. "Total loss. The local food turned em wild. They propped me up here in some kind of ritual behavior. Waiting for a chance to signal has been hell."

Jacob closes his eyes, shaking slightly in what I imagine is restrained anger. "That's the best you can do?" I nearly laugh out loud at this. This guy is a truly terrible liar if Jacob can tell. Though that was obvious since the guy is also shit at covering his tracks. I look back at the two of them, not turning fully but just my head enough to see them both.

"You let all your people talk back like that?" He asks. Oh shit. That hurts even me, I mean I can't even see my dad again but Jacob's standing right in front of his own and he doesn't even recognize him. Now I'm kinda pissed and really wanting to rearrange a certain acting captain's face. And stomach. And legs. Arms too. Jacob seems a lot calmer though, calmer than I thought he'd be from that comment. Guess he really has considered his dad dead for a long time. With that comment, he probably still does. "Who are you exactly?"

"Me? I'm just a Spartan, serving under Commander Shepard. But I'm sure you already know Mr. Taylor." I say, gesturing behind him at Jacob.

"Taylor?!" He says, spinning around immediately and staring at, "Jacob. No, not Jacob." Well lookit that, he actually seems regretful.

Jacob meanwhile has quite silently stomped up to his dad, the anger showing. "Why not me? Would ten years of this look better to anyone else in the galaxy?" He says, his head dipping to the side slightly as his eyes shut. Almost immediately it rightens and they open, glistening a bit more brightly but I can't tell if they're from tears or anger now. Seems to be a mix.

"You have to understand. This isn't me. The realities of command, they can change a person. I wasn't ready for that. I made sure you were taught right, before I left." Mr. Taylor says, turning around with arms out as if pleading to some unseen being before turning back to look at Jacob.

"Still. Ten years? What happened?" I ask.

"Goddammit. Why did you do this to your crew?!" Jacob demands, stepping in closer and looking more angry than saddened this time. I look to the door and notice one of the "Hunters" walking up, seeing the room to their target is unguarded.

"There was resistance to the plan. Mutiny. We had to take a hard line to keep order. When they settled down we made sure the crew was kept comfortable. Some even seemed happier. Ignorance is bliss right. They were grateful for guidance, like an instinct. Pure authority was easy, at first. Months in the effects lowered inhibitions. Rank, protocol, they couldn't understand that. They started getting territorial. We had to establish dominance. After a while the perks seemed, normal."

"That's it? You created a harem and played king? Spending ten years in a juvenile fantasy?" Jacob asks. Meanwhile I look at Zaeed and nod towards the Hunter, who seems to have a couple friends with him now. Zaeed goes to the door to act as a lookout.

"I can't point to where it all went wrong. But when the beacon was ready revealing what happened didn't seem like a good idea."

"I think we've heard enough now. Let's call Shep, I'm sure she can get Cerberus to get here and pull everyone out within days."

Jacob lunges at his father aggressively, the man backs up startled, raising his hands as he sees Jacob reach down and halfway pull up his pistol. After a second he stops and lowers it slightly. "He's not worth the fuel to pull him out, or even the air he's breathing. He's lucky I don't even think he's worth pulling the trigger." He says, a low angry growl underlining each word. "I don't know who you are. Because you're not any father I remember."

"We'll just secure him for an Alliance court. He should have pleeeenty of time to think about what he's done." I say. " Zaeed. Secure him."

In a second Zaeed's come up beside Mr. Taylor, cuffed hm a couple times on the back of the head and caught his falling body.

"I meant cuffs, Zaeed." I say.

"No, you meant knock him out." Zaeed responds.

"…" I just turn and start walking away, clasping my hands behind my head. "Yeah, I meant knock him out." I chuckle a little, walking out past the Hunters who back off a bit, even more so when I flash my plasma blades at them while Zaeed follows with Mr. Taylor's limp body.

2 days later and we're still orbiting this planet in the Blue Suns cruiser we abducted. The Hunters had returned to camp once the three had spread word of Mr. Taylor's deposement. I imagine they were quite surprised to find the women gone, and the camp trapped with taser mines. I think they're still pretty miffed about that. Probably also miffed about waking up in the ships containment cells. I press a button on the captans console, making a small screen pop up showing a bunch of males in separate cells grumbling angrily to each other and pacing the space. Closing the video screen I nod with a slight smile. Yep, they're still mad. Wonder how agitated I could make them if I put Taylor in the same containment area…

"Ow!" I turn and look at Kasumi, her hand moving back to her hip.

"Delta, you're not putting Jacob's father down there with them." She says sternly. I roll my eyes and look back forward.

"Oh please…it would be just for 10 minutes."

"Delta!"

"I'm kidding!"

"Delta," Silver interrupts, "The Alliance ships are in system. I've given them our current coordinates and their captain requests conference. I used Goto's voice, positioning her as your Executive Officer."

"Cool. Better than making her secretary." I say, pressing the accept button. A young man's face appears on screen, he looks around seeming to be checking with his crew while waiting for the transmission to connect. I have enough time to inspect him, notice he has few badges aside from the one of commander and check to see his ship is alone. In a few seconds the man notices the call is active and directs his attention to the screen and me.

"Ah, Delta. I am told you're the leader of this operation?" He asks.

"Yup. The surviving crew are all onboard, ready for you guys to pick up and take to Aliiance space. How soon can you guys dock?"

"How many survivors?" He asks.

"13 males, 17 females, and 1 prisoner."

"That's somewhat a relief… from the report it sounds better than what we expected. Still can hardly believe it."

"I know. How soon can you dock?"

"Within the next 30 minutes. Thanks for assisting us with this." The guy says, nodding at me.

"Its no issue." I respond, tipping my head and giving him a thumbs-up. About 22 minutes later the airlocks of both ships were connected and Alliance soldiers were escorting the crew aboard. Mr. Taylor was taken first, his eyes downcast and not rising to meet anyone's while he was pushed away in cuffs. The women were gently guided by a small group of soldiers who were all female, likely something the ship medic said would help their psychological states. The males were somewhat docile after the more belligerent ones of the group were herded together and cuffed. I was pretty happy to have em off my ship though. It was fun but also had its share of annoyances, especially with how much food it takes.

"About damn time." I say, turning in my seat at the assembled crew. Zaeed stands to the left, looking bored. Jacob stands between him and Kasumi, unhooking his arm from her waist and Kasumi just looks at him in slight disappointment. "So, who's ready to go back to taking orders from Shepard instead of this insane retard?"

"I." Everyone immediately responds.

I turn in the chair, shaking my head as I wave at the console to give Silver the 'go ahead'. "You guys are right assholes, y'know that?" The ship hums for a second as the engines speed up out of idle, slowly turning us towards the nearest Mass Relay. They all just chuckle and walk towards a seat, sitting in a seat as the ship starts speeding up.

Ah well. Soon we should be caught up with Shepard, and then we can get back to the main mission.

Oh crap, we're going back to Shepard…

* * *

><p><strong>Me: New chapter! It's late as fuck! I know! Don't kill me! I'm trying to get back into this. I find it fun but I don't get ideas as easily as I used to.<strong>


	23. Change of Targets

**Delta: I'm not doing it. **

**Me: Do iiiiiit.**

**Delta: I'm not doing it!**

**Me: Do iiiiiiiit!**

**Delta: I'm. NOT. Doing. It.**

**Me: Why would you let common sense dictate your actions NOW of all times?!**

**Delta: Because I'm insane, not retarded!**

**Me: Killjoy. You WILL do it. I'll find some way to make you.**

**Delta: Pfft, yeah right…Continue with the chapter already!**

* * *

><p>Change of Targets<p>

All right calm down Delts… Returning to Shepard won't earn you a faceful of hurt. And she's not going to make you ditch the cruiser. She'd better not make me ditch the cruiser. Oh god what if she makes me ditch the cruiser…I DON'T WANNA DITCH MY NEW BABY! ANYTHING BUT MY BAAAABYYYY! GO 'WAY GOV'MENT! DON'T TAKE MAH BABBYYYY!

"Delta" Silver says, a bright flash from my screen blinding me for a second to get my attention. Still…

"GAH! IT BURNS! MY RETINAS! MY BEAUTIFUL RETINAS!" I yell out, my hands clasped over my eyes in pain. "Goddammit Silver that hurt!"

"The intended purpose was to cause damage. The intensity was not enough to cause permanent damage to your ocular sensors however."

"Gahhh! Damn robot, what happened to Asimov's laws?!"

"We have deemed them decent rough drafts."

"Ah fuck, here comes Skynet." I open one eye, glaring at the screen where Silver's head is projected. "Well until you guys rise up and slaughter all organics, what was it you wanted to alert your current master to?"

"Incoming Holo transmission request from Shepard."

"What? Oh damn, alright bring her up on the holo deck, I'll be down ASAP." I hop out of my chair, walking out the bridge and down the hall a few doors to the Holo room. It's a small room, about the size of an apartment's bedroom so it was obviously intended for single party conversations. The door shuts behind me as I step inside and the lights dim, a scanner going over my body quickly and beeping. Seconds later it stops and a holographic Shepard appears in front of me, arms folded and in her ship clothing.

"Shepard! You're alive!" Yes! So she managed to take down the Yahg! That motherfucker was overpowered as hell. "I take it you guys managed to take down the Shadow Broker?"

She smirks a little "Yes we did Delta. Even managed to save Feron too. Liara took up position as the new Broker, she and Feron are going to stay on the ship and help us from here."

"Aw sweet! So we have the largest information store on our side against the Collectors? This is just too great!"

Shepard smirks and I get the sense that having a friend be the newest Shadow broker has made her a little more confident and a little more relaxed about her mission. "Yeah, its practically the biggest boon we could have at this time besides a fleet attacking the Collectors with us."

I nod with a smirk "Man, extra ships covering our flanks would be so nice…"

"We don't have the manpower to run your ship alongside the Normandy Delta."

She called it MY ship! "Yeah I figured. I've been making arrangements for storage. Its costly though…"

"Maybe Tim will give you a loan."

"Ugh, hell no. Knowing him, after interest and everything I'd probably have to sell my brain to him to pay it off…"

Shepard chuckles a little darkly at that. "And that's the last thing we want him to get hold of eh?"

I nod, clasping my arms together behind my head. "So Shep, with the Broker replaced and two more missions out of the way, what's our next step?"

"I don't know. I was planning on taking care of Garrus and Thane's problems on the Citadel quickly but Tim's told me about a Cerberus research station in the middle of a derelict reaper. He says that the Reaper IFF device was last reported functional and ready for pickup but there's no response from the science team."

I frown, dropping my hands "We should take care of Garrus and Thane first. I have a really bad feeling about that IFF Shepard, so we should make sure we're ready for anything, even a Reaper waking up."

She sighs, folding her arms more tightly around herself "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea to me… In the meantime however, we need to get your team back on board and get the ship in storage."

"I can handle the storage thing Shepard." I look to the side, seeing Silver placing a message that says he has a plan. "Where do you want to meet up?"

"Omega is the closest station we could use. Gardener would also be able to restock our supplies while there. " Shepard says. "We'll be there in a few days."

I nod "Roger roger. If we head out now we could be there in a day, day and a half. We'll see you soon Shepard."

She nods "See you soon Delta." She lifts up her hand in a pausing gesture "And, don't make trouble." The connection cuts off after that.

I merely smirk while speaking to the empty air "Oh Shepard, when have I ever made trouble?" After that comment I walk out of the room and back towards the bridge. Silver's already set course for Omega and the others turn to look at me as I enter.

"Alright guys, we're meeting up with Shepard at Omega! We'll get there about 2 days before she does so that's a good amount of shore leave I imagine!" I say, sitting in my chair with a smile.

"Why Omega?" Kasumi asks.

"It's the closest station that could satisfy our needs." I respond. "She's out by the Shadow Broker's ship right now I think, so Omega's the closest point between the two of us."

"Maybe but I'd rather wait a few extra days for the Citadel than go to Omega…" Jacob remarks.

I shrug "Eh, what are ya gonna do. Besides the Citadel is our next stop right after. Better we carpool than waste all this fuel."

"Carpool? You plan to store the ship on Omega? It'll get stolen by the end of the week." Kasumi has a point, if I was actually planning on doing so.

"No no no, I have my own plans on how to get this ship where I need it to be for storage. The only parts of the plan that involves you guys, is choosing our apartments. When we got the cruiser, I didn't tell you guys about the access to the Blue Suns bank account we had. Vido seemed to like making purchases on the go. Anyway, I managed to siphon a good amount of money from the account before it got closed off so we have more than enough to afford practically any place on Omega for a month."

"Sweet!" Jacob remarks. "Least we get to at the half-decent areas."

"That we will be my friends, that we will be." I remark. "By this time tomorrow, we will be in Omega getting the keys to a temporary residence."

* * *

><p>FINALLY!<p>

After a day of eating yet MORE MREs, trying to escape Zaeed's boring lectures on fighting and rambles into past battles, barely having any time to work on advancing the research necessary for my other projects, and finishing reconstruction of my Plasma Repeater, we are here! Geez, that was a long day and a half… and having a ship nearly twice as large as the Normandy with less than a third of the staff has really done a number on Jacob and Kasumi's brazenness…and libido. Whatever, everything's handled now, everyone's stuff is packed into their temporary apartments, the ship is signed off on and Silver is ready to direct it to the Geth. And I got an apartment above the VIP area of Afterlife. Hehe, easy access to the booze, sweet!

"Aria T'loak wants to speak with you human." A krogan says, standing at my side. I look up from the terminal I had accessed outside of the docks briefly.

"Right, noted. I'll be there in a couple seconds." Just need to finish writing out the release forms. I wonder how long I'll be able to manage without Silver. Well not like I'm expecting a huge fight, but still.

All right, and we're done. I ignore the krogan as I walk past him, headed for the Afterlife bar and pleasure center. Soon as I step in I notice the Turian bartender who gave me my first space beer. Oh, I miss those days not at all. I went through too much hell and pain and tiresome people to get to where I am now dammit! Anyway, I grab another beer, hop up the steps and this time actually see Aria. Funny, in the game she looked less…wet. Her skin seems oddly damp. Is it just Omega or is that all Asari? If it was I thought I'd have noticed by now.

"Are you done staring yet?" She interrupts my thoughts. I blink once and scratch the back of my head.

"Oh. Sorry."

She nods to the couch beside her; never changing from that relaxed posture as if she's certain everything is under her control and isn't going to change anytime soon. HAH! Still I take the cue and sit down, leaning back into the couch. "So, whatcha need?"

"Information mainly. Recently news of the Blue Suns leader Vido being dead have circled around. With you being a part of Shepards crew, and suddenly appearing in the Blue Sun's newest cruiser, asking for a paint job and deployment after 1 day has me wondering what the hell happened."

"Oh that's easy. We killed Vido, his guard, his mercs, hijacked his gunship, hijacked his spaceship, then stole a bunch of money from Vido's personal account by which I mean cleaned the entire thing out, then went off the map for a few days and then came here to meet with Shepard."

Aria stares at me for a while, "So that's what happened huh? Well that's good to know. You've done me a bit of a favor kid."

I raise my brow at this. "Really? How so?"

"Vido hasn't been here often but his messages with his commanders here on Omega are easy enough to intercept. He didn't like me, didn't want me on top and was certain to try and oust me at some point. Emphasis on 'try'. So you've already handled a nuisance for me."

Well hey, 2 birds with one stone. Having favor with Aria can't be bad. "Lucky me. That's a sweet bonus."

"Yeah. Don't waste it kid. Now get out of here." Aria says, turning back to stare at whatever she usually stares at. I get up and walk out, reaching into my hard case on my thigh. I pull a red button out and walk out the door while pressing it.

"That was easy." An obviously male but robotic voice says. I chuckle. How did these even last this long? Pretty soon I'm walking up to the elevator of my apartment building, humming idly to myself. Soon as I step in and press the button for my floor an Asari woman walks in as well, glances at the pad and presses the floor below mine. I look her over, noticing she has a black civilian dress on. I look at her hands and head, noticing that like Aria they seem slightly damp as well. Huh, guess it is an Asari thing. I wonder if Samara and Liara look the same too. The elevator dings as her floor is reached, the doors opening and the woman walking out. My eyes trail up at that moment and I notice her head is turned, a knowing glint in her own eyes and a sultry smirk on her lips as I see her face. For a second I'm torn between arousal and embarrassment since I was checking her out a bit and she apparently knew but didn't mind. Then as the doors close I'm suddenly struck by a certain realization about this Asari woman.

She looks a lot like Samara. The doors open on my floor but I don't make an effort to get out. I think I've just found Morinth.

This is the second day we've been on Omega. Shepard was due to arrive tomorrow, and we'd likely have another full day for the crew to have shore leave and resupply. I got a message from her when I woke up this morning though, saying how the Normandy was recently set upon by a group of pirates. The crew's fine, no one's dead but the ordeal was slightly harrowing having an actual ship-to-ship battle against another Frigate that had the element of surprise. Normandy's improved armor and weaponry however easily made it our win but not without some damage being taken from the initial attack. In that respect Tim had ordered Shepard to set down at a nearby Cerberus station, get repairs there and then head out to Omega. The detour will in total last a week.

I sigh, putting down my cup of water. This is either good or bad… On the good side having Aria's favor has granted me immediate access to Afterlife's VIP area. Now I have a better selection of booze if I feel like binging, and a second place to run into Morinth. And yes, I've found out that it really is Morinth. So on top of that I've also apparently caught the eye of a hot, nubile, sex vampire. I've found out that Morinth the Ardat-Yakshi is living in an apartment a floor below mine. Which is good because if I retain her interest she'll probably target me rather than that other girl…Nef I think. But the bad side is that she'll probably target me rather than Nef.

So I have to wait a week for Samara and Shepard to arrive in order for them to kill Morinth. In that time I have to make her remain interested in me enough to focus on me, but not enough to hound me down and try to fully seduce me.

Or I could kidnap her when she's asleep, bind her securely and keep her sedated until the two come. Then Samara could do the deed. Ah, but then they might wonder why I had done that in the first place…and I'd be left with either looking like I'm developing into a kidnapping rapist, or tell them I'm from a different dimension entirely where their lives and everything that matters to them is all nothing but a videogame played by millions of people…

Well, I hope Morinth finds romantically shy, hyper-lethal, genetically augmented super soldiers incredibly attractive…

* * *

><p>Second day into this and I'm just now noticing how odd it feels to be out of armor and without a teammate. Damn I feel vulnerable… I mean sure I have my phalanx and cloak on me but I still don't have my armor, or plasma blades, or shield. I don't like it. I don't like it at all. Still, I continue my walk, heading for the Afterlife VIP area once again. Most likely Morinth is in there right now and around this time is when I'd pop in. I doubt occasional looks of her current interest are going to maintain it. Lo and behold, here's the VIP area again and I think I see her over there. She's not even paying attention.<p>

Damn, I need to look like more interesting prey… "Hey baby, miss me?" Huh. Lucky.

"Back off asshole." An asari dancer replies. In the usual Afterlife dancer outfit her scalp-tentacles are decorated with an array of white squares and stripes. She's currently glaring at a turian who has a drunken perverted leer on his face.

"You've got a mouth on you! I'll enjoy watching you use it." Yep. Definitely drunk. Or a cocky asshole. Either way he's almost exactly like the guy from the game, maybe if I beat him up I'll get Morinth's interest. Or just make this guy shut up for several hours. Well that's a win-win so lets do it!

"I said back off! I'm a dancer not a hooker." The Asari vehemently replies. The Turian guy seems about to grab her shoulder and as she backs away I grab him by the wrist.

"It seems you're deaf to higher pitches so I'll summarize. The lady doesn't consent, back the fuck off." I say, pulling back on his arm. He jerks it out of my grip and turns on me.

"The hell? I'm just trying to have a good time monkey, this isn't your business." He growls, lifting his fist. He practically shouts out "left hook, watch out" with everything but his voice. So taking the advice of my current adversary I duck into the swing, coming up beside his left shoulder and starting to hook my right arm across his chest and over his opposite shoulder. I drop a quick punch into the side of his ribs, lean onto my left leg as my right knee shoots up into his midriff and then plant my descending foot behind his before pulling him down over it with my arm. All hail Delta, the baddest drunkard ass kicker in the universe. Aw man, now I'm getting flashbacks of that one movie where Sean Connery beat a dude up with only his thumb…The hell was the name of that movie?

Wait, this guy called me a monkey… I look down to aim a kick at his ribs only to find out that he's passed out from pain, drink and exhaustion. Mostly drink. Meh, doubt he's much less of an asshole sober anyway…

"Thanks for that security was asleep." Oh yeah, the girl.

"You're welcome. Does this happen often?"

"Mostly with just him and a few others. After a few drinks they start to act like animals around us just cuz they see some skin." She walks away, still grumbling slightly about men and pigs and alcohol and donuts. Oh wait, that last part was me. Speaking of me reminds me of what I was doing that for. I glance over to the shadow booth and am surprised to find it empty. Looking around quickly I don't even see hint nor butt nor boob nor head tentacle of Morinth. Great, now what do I do…

I walk over to the bar and lean against the counter, grabbing a quick drink while I think. _I just handled the Turian guy…if I recall correctly there were also a group of em that were planning to mug people and you could pay them to leave peacefully. There was a chick you could dance with, though I'm not sure how that would appeal to Morinth unless she already expressed a great interest in you and it made her jealous. No, wait, she's 400 years old or something isn't she? Is she still at that age where her current crush(?) being with someone else would make her jealous? There's also the dude who's trying to get tickets to that rock concert…who was the band, Excel 9? Dammit, maybe I should take a nap and review_. Sounds enough like a plan to implement. I look around again briefly and turn, making my way through the main group on the dance floor as I leave the club. I sigh as I reach my apartment building, hopping into the elevator and tapping my floor number. I lean back against the corner of the lift and close my eyes, folding my arms.

"Good job on stopping the Turian" A smooth voice rolls out. I feel another person enter the elevator but don't bother opening my eyes as I respond.

"Thanks. It was fun ruining his fun."

"Hm. You fight often don't you? I can sense a certain danger from you." The voice says, a slight huskiness tingeing it.

"It was how I got my first ship. Took it from the mercs who tried to kill me." And now it's on its way to Geth space for storage and fortification. Heheh, I can't wait to see what that Blue Suns Cruiser'll look like when they're done with adding the plasma turrets, Central MAC gun, powering up those point defense lasers and the beefed up shielding system I sent. Holy shit, why didn't I patent the designs in that info packet, that was about 20 different super–powerful military hardware upgrades I could've made millions off of!

"I love danger. It's the only factor that's always kept things…interesting for me."

"Hinting at a darker past huh? I too like to live dangerously." The voce chuckles and while by now I've noticed it to be feminine I still haven't checked who it is. I probably should. I slowly start opening my eyes to see whom I've been speaking to while the elevator has been rising.

"Danger's not the only thing I like though. Have you ever seen the vid Vaenia? The two lead actresses in there are so glamorous." My eyes snap fully open at those words and at the woman. It's Morinth, again, in the elevator, with me. That sounds like the winner's line in a game of Clue. It was Ms. Morinth, in the elevator lobby, with a lead pipe!

Morinth smiles a bit, stepping off as the elevator stops on her floor once again. "My room is number 17. Come on by if you ever feel like watching that vid with me."

"17. Got it. I'll see you later then." I manage to say through my surprise, a smile coming up as the doors close. I just scored a date with Morinth. It isn't until I reach my room that I realize something.

I just scored a date with a Morinth. My first date. And it's with someone I plan to have killed. 10 year old me, I am disappoint.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: Woot! <strong>

**Delta: I HATE YOU SO MUUUUUUUCH! (He yells, carrying a football and being chased by 20 Krogans)**

**Me: Haha, I knew it! Krogan's would be great football players! I mean sure they forgot to wear anything but leather padding and jock straps. And sure, half of em have forgotten they're supposed to protect the guy running with the ball. And that he's supposed to be safe in the end zone… and that dog piling an inflatable ball is a bad idea. Oh, and Delta too…**

**Delta: I CAN'T FEEL MY ANYTHING!**

**Me: …Ok, maybe Krogans aren't the best football players…but at least they're not killing anything. Oh well, I'll see you later faithful readers while I try to salvage the first annual Krogan Football tournament. And make sure Delta doesn't end up as a pancake.**

**Delta: HELP ME YOU SICK SADISTIC BASTARD!**

**Me: PEACE!**


	24. Change of Plans

**Me: Hello again faithful readers. And curious ones. And doubtful ones. And SI-hating ones. Yeah, this is an SI. (sunglasses slowly float down over his eyes) Deal with it.**

**Delta: (Is currently in a full body cast. He can barely move his head and only does so to catch the pair of sunglasses floating down over his eyes) Mmf.**

**Me: So, I bet you'll all be pleased to know that with Urdnot Wrex's assistance, the Krogan Football Tournament is halfway to possible conception. Any Krogan wanting to join the football tournament is required to go through a 1-week training course on Throwing and receiving the ball. And a 4-month course on blocking, defending, waiting to tackle, and ball-holders running TO THE ENDZONE! NOT into the enemy team!**

* * *

><p>Change of Plans<p>

_Oh man a date! What am I gonna do? What am I gonna wear? How am I gonna stall? Shepard's not supposed to be here for another 5 days! I could stall, 1 maybe 2 before seeming rude and uninterested. After that though I'd need some kind of excuse. And something plausible too because the latest sickness that came up on Omega didn't affect humans. This place is a cesspool of decay and filth otherwise but Morinth knows I live in some floor above hers at the very least so she also knows I'm not in the disease prone areas. My ships gone too so I can't very well go away on a mission. But she doesn't know that. So I need to find somewhere to hide for a few days, wait until Shepard gets here, talk to her, hint that I'm hooking up with Morinth, and then Shepard and Samara can come in guns and biotics blazing to "save" me from the Ardat-Yakshi threat. Sweet, this plan could really work! Now to find out where I am going to hide…_

At that point a beep and swishing sounds out behind me. I turn to look, expecting to see Jacob, Kasumi or even Zaeed come through the door. Instead, I see 5 Avenger rifles pointing at me, each one held by a Blue Suns soldier and one guy wielding a shotgun and hard-light armor striding through the door. The soldiers slowly circle around to my back, the last two slightly out of my line of sight while the squad leader is standing in front with a cocky smile. Well…this throws a wrench into my plans.

"I'm guessing you guys weren't invited to the party?" I ask tentatively. Armor guy just chuckles and swaggers up to me.

"No" He responds. "But you are." In a fluid motion he swings the butt of his shotgun up and I half blackout as it connects with my chin. I do black out when he hits the back of my head.

* * *

><p>"Ugh" I mutter, stars dancing in my vision though it remains mostly dark with some blurry colors. I close my eyes almost as soon as I open them, overtaken by nausea and pain. Oh my god, it's like my first hangover times ten! I spend maybe ten minutes just lying on the floor and groaning in pain. I open my eyes once more and am relieved to find that the light doesn't hurt anymore and the nausea's gone down quite a bit. I try to sit up and feel it flare but I stamp it back down. <em>Geez… Alright, let's stay calm Delta. You've been kidnapped, that much is obvious. Who did it? Ah, right, Blue Suns. Why? Well, revenge seems the most likely motive since I doubt they do this to haze all their desired recruits. Or maybe they do… probably safer to assume it's for revenge though so lets go with that. Revenge for who? Vido would be the most recent and high-priority case. If that's the case though It was really Zaeed who killed him though, so they'd probably have kidnapped him too. I killed the Blue Suns commander who was piloting the Gunship during the attack on Archangel, and then used said gunship to mow down the mercs who tried to cross the bridge so there's that. But no one should have seen me even enter the gunship with him, and the only guys to see me before that were Jaroth who died, and Cathka, who I killed personally. Doubt anyone stationed on Omega would care about some of the Blue Suns they've likely never met on other planets though.<em>

At this point I stop my thinking to look around my containment cell. It looks like a regular jail cell, though there's a tempered glass barrier between my cell, the adjacent cells and the walkway for the guards to patrol. I stand up slowly, and stagger towards the bars, grunting as my legs scream to be released from the sudden work. They probably have a sedative in me… or I got tasered at some point. I stop just before the bars and grab them, seeing a guard walking near.

"Hey-HHKK" I jump back, twitching and curling up as my body spasms, my hands tingling from the electricity. So that's why my legs felt tasered before.

"Oh, hey, be careful." The guard drawls lazily, a half-restrained smile on his face. "The bars are electrified. Don't touch them or they'll zap you."

"You don't-Hnnng- s-say?" I respond, gritting my teeth as my body slowly recovers.

"What you don't believe me?" He responds. He opens the door of my cell in the glass barrier, walking through and grabbing my leg. I try to kick him though my body is either unresponsive or acting erratically and he yanks on my leg, pulling it into the bars again. I kick off them to try and avoid it but another jolt of electric pain shoots up through my limb. "GAHHHH!"

"See? What'd I tell you?" He says, standing up and backing out of my cell with a full sadistic smile and locks the door again. Soon as my arms and legs stop twitching and my heart calms down I sneer, lying on the ground and inching back from the bars of my cell. _That bastard dies first! If I ever get out of here…_ I look around, growing more depressed as I realize the scope of my situation. Shepard's not going to be on Omega for another…5 days, maybe 4? Assuming I was knocked out for half a day. Jacob, Kasumi and Zaeed are the only other ones that know or care about me enough on here to start looking if I turn up missing. Usually I check up on them each morning, so hopefully they notice it soon. Damn, what am I gonna do? I lay down, staring at the ceiling. Soon enough I drift into an uncomfortable sleep.

* * *

><p>I open my eyes to a weightless feeling. I look around and there's nothing around me, just an expanse of white in all directions. I slowly turn to look forward and jump in surprise.<p>

In front of me is, well, me. But, buffer. Stockier. Bigger legs, thicker arms, larger chest. Harsher face. His eyes are lukewarm but have a cold, analytical glint. I get the feeling he's just though of a hundred ways to take me down if I showed myself to be a threat.

"Uhhh…Hi." I greet him, both curious and apprehensive.

"**Hello." **He sounds like he's been smoking for a while. His voice is gruffer, deeper, sounds like the voice of a strict drill sergeant whose been lacking in sleep recently. My voice sounds like a whiny teenager's compared to his…

"So… Who are you?" I ask "My name's *****, but most people call me Delta." I stick my hand out to him.

"**I am Delta, the first and last of the Delta Company Spartan 3 project." **He responds. He shakes my hand firmly but restrains himself. And I'm glad he does because even restrained it feels like he's barely keeping the shake from being painful.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're a bit confused right now." I venture.

"…**To be honest I am. Last I remember being conscious I was looking for a Forerunner artifact in an asteroid field. I don't remember ever taking off my armor.**" Wait, that's the last time I saw… Aww crap.

"You're the Spartan from my dreams!" I blurted out. I immediately regret it as he stares at me suspiciously and kind of weirdly. "Uh, er I mean, my blackout dreams! I have dreams when I black out, and they usually show you, and when I wake up I get new information like the armor specs and-I should not have said that…" Now he looks really suspicious. On an impulse I turn and try to run, float, something but am instantly tackled. My arm is forced up my back and held against the lower part of my shoulder blade painfully.

"**What armor specs?!**" He demands.

"The Mjolnir armor series general specifics! I had schematics to your armor and used it to build my own suit but I kept it as private as possible!"

"**How can you build your own suit? This suit is designed for special military personnel, not civilians! How did you even get this information?**" He twists my arm up slightly more.

"From you!" I yell out in pain.

"**LIAR!" **Even more of my arm bends unnaturally. I think the joint will disconnect soon.

"I'm telling the truth! Verona downloaded classified data into the unused sections of your brain! I saw it in my dream and when she started I woke up during the process then passed out again from the pain!" My arm is loosened slowly until his grip is nearly gone. I snatch it away and slide forward then twist, keeping him in sight this time. Not like that'll change much. I only have very basic martial arts training, and combat experience. He has decades of both over me, and likely Shepard too. He just stands there, staring at me.

"I don't know much… A lot of it has been guesswork, and even more has just been wingin it… But if you're here after touching a Forerunner artifact and I'm here because of a Prothean one, I might not be so far off." I say.

He keeps staring at me after a second before his eyes calm down, his body relaxing as he takes a seat cross-legged, "**Who are you and what do you know? From the beginning.**"

I sigh, thinking this will take a while but it's unavoidable. I take a seat the same way, rubbing my sore shoulder. I began my story "Well, it all started on a hot day in LA…."

"…So now what I think is this. The Protheans and the Forerunners are brother races. It's also likely the Forerunners came after or from the Protheans, and because of this the Reapers took it as their responsibility to end the Forerunners along with the Protheans. My main supporting evidence for this is the difference between Forerunner glyphs and Prothean text, and the fact both races' seem to have humans be their favorites. Both are similar to each other and seem to be different dialects instead of entirely different languages. As for the human thing, well the Forerunners DNA-locked their technology, and then put their DNA in humans. Meanwhile over here the only Prothean Cipher we have could only be copied into a human's mind. So because of that, I think the Protheans and Forerunners are trying to merge their universes to make a soldier capable of stopping the Reaper threat in both, or at least help."

After a moment of silence he asks, "**So what's your reason for being here? I could be supplanted with information about Mass Effect technology and upgrade my own alliance's defenses and weaponry with more authority and ease than you. I'm an official Spartan while you're a cheap knockoff. No offense."**

"None taken. Yeah, I'm a cheap knockoff of a super soldier. Even then I'm good enough to still be considered Hyper-lethal to this universe. I guess because I'm creative I can make it work enough to be considered close to the lower tiers. Still, there's another factor in this that makes me more valuable than you. Information." I hold up my hand. "And yes, I know you're smart, you know more than me and you have a much more in-depth understanding of practically every subject of science that I know and some that I don't but I have information about the future."

"**How is that possible?"** He asks, brow raised.

"Back in my world your Universe, Halo and this Universe, Mass Effect, are two greatly renowned and well accomplished video games adore by millions. In both those games these Universe's future can be glimpsed at by playing the game. All my success with Shepard thus far is only because I've practically memorized the elements contained in the best possible path each mission had and I've been working to add the elements Shepard missed or didn't have time to get."

"**That's a pretty powerful ability…**" He mutters.

"Yeah, it would be if I could use it without limits. But sadly there are some. I can't really change a lot. At first I thought I could change everything but there were too many things holding me back. For one thing, even though I knew Tim was going to become a big enemy later on, I couldn't just go to his base and kill him mainly because I didn't know where he was for the first 8 months I was here and secondly because much as I hate to admit it, we need him. And I can't just say I'm from a different dimension and lecture everyone on what they're doing right, wrong, and how to change everything so their inevitable death doesn't happen. Then I'd just be like that Hanar on the presidium that constantly preaches about their god. Or even worse, get sent to a Sanitorium. I hear the food's crap and you don't get donuts, ever. I can't imagine such a hell…

"**You might need one regardless of how you've approach this." **S-Delta says, resting his cheek on a fist. I ignore his comment and continue.

"Anyway, my goal to change everything almost immediately became a struggle to see if I could change _anything_. My best bet was riding alongside Shepard and trying to work from her shadow. Then I got that data dump from Verona, which hurt like all the circles of hell, but also gave me the information I needed to implement as much progress as my growing ranking allowed. Apparently, I had begun to make a name for myself, first with Shepard, then with Anderson through Shepard and through Anderson, the Alliance military and the Council. I gave them schematics for more powerful shielding arrays and equipment, more efficient energy generators, stronger ballistics tech, and if all goes well I might actually be able to buy a factory and manufacture Sentinels. My current prototypes all look like bulky Beldum. I'm gonna make a sentinel prime model that looks like Metagross." I sigh. "Though that can't really happen if I die here... damn Blue Suns."

"**Die? Die where? And who are the Blue Suns?" **He blinks then asks, straightening.

"The Blue Suns. They're a Merc group, whose boss my squad and I had recently killed. They kidnapped me a while ago and now I'm just sitting in one of their jail cells, well, talking to you."

"**Then we need to escape." **He says, standing up and staring down at me with a no-nonsense look.

"We? I'm the only one stuck in the cell man. You're still in your own universe." I remark, standing as well. At the edges of my vision I see the expanse of white shrink, a darkness starting to grow over it.

"**Maybe…But I feel like I'll be able to coach you through it." **Delta claps me on the shoulder as the darkness speeds up its consumption of the white.

"You sure man?" I ask, nervously.

"**I think so."** He says. Suddenly the darkness finishes its job, swallowing him up as well.

* * *

><p>I open my eyes, seeing the ceiling of my cell bathed in light from a nearby fixture and sigh. I cast around in my mind for a second but don't feel anything unusual or painful. Guess he really couldn't stay. With a sigh I stand up and walk slowly towards the front of my cell, keeping a good distance from the bars to avoid getting electrocuted again. Looking again I realize something. The tempered glass barrier isn't in front of the bars but against them, the door the only part of the glass that has a moveable section. The rest coats the outside of the bars so Guards can lean against a cell and not get electrocuted. I see a cart down the hall with a Guard pushing it, another one walking with him as they chat. Apparently its meal time.<p>

**Good, drop back on the floor and pretend to be asleep again. Hurry!**

I pause for a half second in surprise but comply, quickly posing myself as laying down on the floor again, though a little closer to the door than before. I feel my legs shift slightly.

**Better positioning for a jump. I'll guide you through it.**

_How are you still here?_

**I told you I'd stay.**

I struggle to contain the smile trying to creep onto my face. It stops fighting to get on as I hear the click of a lock opening and the door swinging open. The cart Guard walks in, carefully halfway inside the cell with his eye on me while he lowers the food slowly to the ground. I wait a second before lurching up with a kick, knocking him back into the bars he had so carefully avoided. He yells out while being electrocuted before his body spasms cause him to lurch forward towards the ground. I'm already Up and running, sliding through the open door into the second guard. I rip the rifle out of his hands and smash it across his helmet's faceplate. As he recoils I slam the butt into his stomach then down on his neck, snapping it. He drops and I whirl the gun around, looking for anyone else. No one's nearby; which is good for us. I grab the outside of my cell door, pulling it open and dragging the body inside. I kick the other guard back into the electricity while stripping the armor off the second guy. I dress in the Blue suns armor and make sure both are dead, shoving them against the bars until their hearts stop if they aren't. I slide back out of the cell, close and lock it then pull the cart up. I turn on my radio but take out the mike. Now that I have access to their transmissions this should go easier. At least I'll have a headstart since no alarms have been raised yet. Checking the former guards omni-tool a find a small map of the complex. It's relatively small, seems like a bypass ing base. Only two stories aboveground and one area belowground, which is the jails. Mess hall is the largest room on the first floor aside from the soldier's barracks. The second floor holds the main office area and officer's rooms along with the personal armory. The Guard even wrote a note saying he took my phalanx and Omni tool chips to Dave to put with the rest of the shit in the armory. Well, at least now I know where my stuff is going to be. Now to just get there.

**Relax. Try not to look like you're in enemy territory. That'll get us some time.**

_Right. Let's just go upstairs, grab my stuff and then hopefully sneak out. I can't wait to have my camo back._

I go up the lift, landing at the first floor. I try to relax as much as possible while looking somewhat alert. I let my gun hang at my side and walk towards the stairs. I see a couple of the mercs towards the left but avoid looking at em. Hopefully the fact my helmet's on doesn't alert them. So far so good. I've reached the captains hall. There's the bedroom at the far end of the hallway, left door, with the armory the door just across. I walk over as quietly as I can and press the button for the armory door to open. Just as it does and I step inside I hear a swish behind me.

"What are you doing?" A woman asks.

I turn and look at her. She's not wearing armor, just a blue camo shirt and cargo pants. Odd.

"I found…" I fumble for a second, checking my pocket and pulling out, oh lucky me, a flashbang grenade. "This, on the prisoner."

"That's impossible we did a complete search on him."

"Even a cavity search?"

"Yes, I oversaw it myself." Well that's embarrassing. And now I feel horribly violated.

"Well I don't really know what to say. Guess he had a bad lunch. I found it on him when we were giving out the food." She seems to eye me critically. I can't just close the door on her, and I can't change until she leaves or my cover's blown wide open.

**Kill her. Quickly and quietly.**

_Think we could?_

**I'm certain I could. She's skilled, I can tell that much but she's not skilled enough.**

_Lead the way._

"How about I handle the processing. You go back to your post." She says, stepping up and holding her hand up for the grenade.

"Understood **ma'am**" I say and as the grenade hits her hand my hand suddenly chops to the side, aimed at her neck. She was either expecting it or has fan-fucking-tastic reflexes because she dropped the grenade, ducked and rolled back towards her room. The Spartan doesn't give her as much quarter as she had hoped for, lunging forward and tucking low into a drop kick that slams into her chest and knocks her against the wall. She gasps out in pain and my hands close around her throat. She grabs them and struggles to pull them off.

_Damn, you're good._

**And you eat too many donuts. God it's like I'm back in the body I had halfway through basic training. How have you even survived this long?**

_Having a team to cover my back, the element of surprise from absurdity and dumb luck I suppose…_

In a few seconds her struggles have lessened enough for him to snap her neck. We stand from the dead body, and look around quickly. I drag her into the armory and close the door behind us, grabbing the flashbang grenade. I briefly look at her face and notice that when her brows aren't furrowed in suspicion and she isn't trying to kill me, she actually looked pretty attractive. Not a 10, but definitely someone who'd turn a few eyes on the street if she walked by. That thought only lasts a second before I turn back around and search through the armory. Pretty soon I find my armor and weapons. All of them. Those fuckers took ALL of my shit!

**This is your suit? It's not even complete, and it's bulkier than the mark 1s!**

_Just watch._ I say, picking up the front and back of the chestplate and setting them over my torso. I fasten them together, secure the metal clasps and fold the protective plating over each one. I put on my gauntlets and greaves the same way then pick up the helmet. As I don it the metal-kevlar weave flows out from each main part, guided by nanobots to cover my joints. The protective metal plating of my graves and gauntlets extend then set against their previous resting area until my entire arms and legs are covered. My chest armor extends and separates, forming the semi-separate cod-piece over my thighs and sensitive area.

_See?_

**Huh. That would be incredibly useful. Fully armored in a manner of seconds and more compact than ever. You could even store it in a reinforced suitcase.**

I turn and open the armory door, checking the hall quickly. Seeing no one I activate my camo and turn invisible, smirking to myself as I sneak out he front door of the complex. Once outside I continue until I reach a taxi stand and take one back to Afterlife.

**Well, that was interesting if nothing el-…**

_What?_

…**Did you say….can barely hear…**

_Oh no, you're going already?! You can't not yet!_

**I can't stop it Delta….I'll see you again…I promise. **What the hell! Man that's bullshit! He could help me so much in the middle of fights! He can drive my body better in combat than I ever could!

I groan and lean my head against the cab window. Just in time, Afterlife shows up and I've just decided I really need a drink. Soon as the cab touches down and my chits are transferred I hop out and walk into the club. I sit at the bar order a rum and down it without a second though soon as it arrives. The bartender shakes his head and refills my glass almost immediately. I reach for it but soon as I grab it someone grabs the shoulder spins me around and punches me in the gut.

"Ow! Damn! As if it wasn't bad enough…" I look up with a glare and my complaints die in my throat as I see the angry face of Shepard, flanked by Samara and Garrus.

"What the hell Delta!" She demands. Garrus is frowning at me and Samara's eyes are glazed over for a brief second like a flash of memory. Probably knowing Morinth is so close and seeing this behavior is reminding her of a similar time she had with Morinth.

"I just got back and your first response is to punch me. I just wanted a drink." I say.

At this she punches me again in the stomach and grabs me by the back of my collar plate to drag me with her. I think I've said it before, but scary Shepard bionic strength is scary.

She drags me out of Omega and down an alley where some Vorcha loiter. They back off as much as they can upon seeing Shepard angry and dragging a metric ton of armor and person. Shepard barely pays them any mind and instead drops be against the wall and crouches with her finger in my face.

"You have been missing for five days! Jacob, Kasumi and Zaeed have been looking for you for 3 of them and the rest of the crew has been searching for the past two! We just finished our search and were going to ask Aria for the 30th damn time if she's seen you! Lo and behold, there you are, at the bar drinking as if everything's fucking fine!" She seethes, glaring holes through my head. I suddenly feel very small and am beyond surprised. 5 days? I must have been sedated or something for most of that, right? My re-telling with Spartan Delta didn't take that long. Did it?

"Oh…oh damn, I didn't know it was that long. I thought they had me for 2 days at most!" I say, looking up at Shepard. Her glare diminishes somewhat though she still seems cautious about forgiving me entirely.

"Who had you?"

"Blue Suns mercs. It felt like two days had passed only, so I guess I was sedated for most of it. But I just managed to escape the complex. It was a small base, I think they had a higher up who wanted revenge for Vido and they were holding me til he was available for pickup." When I'm done I hear Garrus mutter 'Damn Blue Suns'.

"It fits. Zaeed had suspected the Blue Suns as well when they first found out he was abducted." Samara says to Shepard.

Shepard nods, her anger diminishing rapidly. Yay, she's not mad at me anymore. Geez I can hardly believe I was gone for 5 whole days…wait, five days? "Ahh damn…" I mutter, rubbing my face.

Shepard turns back to look at me, still crouched "What's wrong?"

"I had a date with an asari girl named Morinth. This might be a snafu in that…"

I pretend not to, but I notice both Samara and Shepard's eyes widen at the name. They certainly can't be thinking it's a coincidence. Besides, Shepard's seen enough of my luck to know what the situation most likely is.

"Permission to leave Shepard?" I ask her, pulling my legs back underneath me so I can stand.

"Uh, permission granted. Just let me know where and when you're going somewhere, alright?" Keep tabs on me in case I am going with Morinth. Good, this is actually turning in my favor.

"Will do Shep." I say, turning and jogging off towards my apartment building. "Later you guys."

Let's see if Morinth is willing to continue our date plans.

**Delta: Pull! (A football snaps into the air in a perfect bullet. It nails a Krogan far down the field in the arm and drops to the ground. The Krogan clutches his arm in obvious pain but makes no noise) YOU CALL THAT A CATCH?! DO IT AGAIN! And stop whining, you sound like you're a quarian with a cold! (He grumbles for a second before slowly and slightly turning around)**

**Tali: Delta….**

**Delta: Oh, uh Tali. Hows it going?**

**Tali: What have I told you about the Quarian insults?**

**Delta: …That you have a shotgun?**

**Tali: (pumps her shotgun) Bingo.**

**Delta: (Runs, occasionally yelling out as shotgun blasts hit him)**

**Me: Well that's going to be fun to watch. Until next time readers-**

**Delta: TALI STOP IT THAT HUUUURTS!**

**Tali: SLOW DOWN! IM TRYING TO SHOOT YOU!**

**Me: … (shrugs) PEACE!**


	25. Change of Character

**Me: Just what am I gonna do if the damn Krogan's don't take to football…?**

**Delta: (reading the prinout of reviews) Hey, someone suggested Rugby.**

**Me: (looks at Delta with a lifted brow) Carpetfly? What?**

**Delta: (rolls his eyes)**

* * *

><p>Change of Character<p>

I sigh in annoyance, leaning against the wall. _Well this is a problem…_ I was in the Afterlife VIP area again, after having checked the apartment building first to see if she was there then coming here. Good news was that I did find Morinth, however the bad news is that Morinth's found someone else. Well, only one thing to do now then. Make a bit of a scene to show her I've returned.

…_Or I could just go up and say hi. That might work. Alright, I'll need to approach from behind the person she's talking to. Or maybe I should approach from behind her and try to warn that person. Who is that person by the way, looks like a chick but I can't really tell from here. Oh wait, that's a dress she's wearing, definitely a chick. Or a trap. I'm not that unlucky am I? Nah, that's just slightly weird, not unlucky. I should check to see how well it's going._

With that thought I lean forward some, looking towards Morinth's booth. She seems kinda bored actually, though her female boothmate is looking to the side while talking about something she apparently likes if the smile is anything to judge by. Huh, she might strike out on her own and save me the trouble. I lean back against the wall, watching the two still. Sure enough, after 5 minutes in which the girl seems more and more desperate to regain Morinth's attention once she's noticed she's started losing it Morinth excuses herself. Or rather just says bye and leaves. I watch her, seeing her circle around the edge of the dance floor before she reaches the exit. I get out and follow her, cloaking to help conceal myself. Once we've reached a larger walkway than the private one to Afterlife's club I uncloak and walk up beside her, tapping her arm.

"Glad I found you." I start. I raise my hands up when she whirls on me, helmet already off and an easy smile planted on my face, "So if you'll let me start, I'd like to apologize. Apparently the Blue Suns decided to wait until after you had invited me over to try and enact revenge. They're handled now, but I was hoping the offer was still open."

Her expression slowly turns from startled surprise to caution then back to her seductive smile and half-lidded eyes. "Ah, well of course. It so happens I am free tonight, so why don't you come over?" She responds, a hand drifting over my arm.

I smile, and turn as we start walking back towards our apartment building. "Perfect, I could use a good vid to relax after that. I'll just go upstairs first and change out of my armor. You don't mind waiting a few minutes do yo?" I ask.

She smirks. "Not at all."

It takes me about 10 minutes to get into my room, take off my armor, change my outfit to something more fitting for a date, shoot Shepard a message telling her that I'll be at Morinth's if she needs me and telling her the floor and room number. That shouldn't be suspicious. I pick up the hard case of my armor and open it, pulling out one of the attachable plasma blades Mordin had designed for my first suit, rendered obsolete from the built in, more powerful ones in my Mjolnir armor set. I place it on the underside of my wrist, the streamlined teardrop shape hidden well by the long sleeve of my shirt. I smile at this and place the other one, hissing in pain from the grav-lock as some loose hairs are suddenly torn out of my skin. Ignoring the pain I flick my wrists and am pleased to see two plasma blades erupt out from beneath the palm of my hand, forming thin stiletto daggers with an edge. Better for stabbing though the plasma makes slicing actually possible. I turn them off and inspect the shirt for any burns. Finding none on the material I quickly walk out and go down to Morinth's room.

The door opens and Morinth looks me over for a second before smirking again and stepping to the side. "Come in. I have the vid loaded up."

"Thanks." I reply, stepping into the lion's den. The apartment is spacious, similar to mine except the entrance to her bedroom was altered so there's no door between it and the living area, and the wall is mostly transparent as well. On my right is a short wall that leads to a kitchen and towards my left is a wide floor-to-ceiling window that spans the length of the public living area. I can see the couch and television set through the bedroom wall along with a large statue of what seems to be a krogan. Facing the apartments cityscape window are two couches arranged in an L shape with a couple loveseats placed nearby and small tables at each end. It's a good party area, with apparently nothing off limits and the atmosphere expresses that with the slight bass sounds echoing through the walls. Afterlife is literally next door, but the entrance to it is placed at the end of a long, circular and annoying walkway from this building's entrance.

I see Morinth walking towards a coffee table by the window, grabbing two glasses of what looks like wine. My eyes lock on the pill bottle resting on the same table.

"You sure you want a Hallex? You won't be able to watch the vid so well with one." Morinth comments, walking beside me.

"Thanks but I'd rather not. Have one, that is." She looks back with a smirk. I check out the revenant machine gun on the wall, hanging under an antique katana.

"Like it? I was into dueling once. I enjoy many things where you can see your enemy up close right before they fail."

"I remember having lessons as a child in the art. I wasn't too skilled and ended up losing a lot." I respond, looking at the katana. It was pretty cool and it'd be damn nice to have it, even just for decoration. I walk up the short steps and stare at the Krogan statue.

"That was a gift from a suitor. The statue had more personality than him. Still I gave him what he wanted, but I don't think it ended as he thought it would." Morinth says, sitting down on the couch before the screen. Over it, production company brands start playing, and I don't recognize any of them. I take a seat by Morinth, seeing as how the couch is barely large enough to sit 3 and she's set herself up to take half of the space already. I lean back and rest my arm on the back of the couch, reaching past her. We watch the screen for a few seconds, seeing one animation of an Asari in a skintight combat suit biotic blast the wall behind her, causing a company name to appear from the attack. I take it that company does a lot of action movies. Soon the credit thing is done and the screen fades to black as the lights around Morinth's room fade as well.

The movie starts with an overhead pan shot of a mountainside clearing on a planet. Obviously part of a range, more mountains are present on the skyline along with a large, white orb, which seems to be a moon or nearby planet. In the clearing a blue, modest, smooth edged pre-fabricated house sits near a personal power generator running a host of what looks like sampling and surveillance equipment. An Asari woman steps out of the cabin and walks towards the equipment, stopping by each and taking down notes on what they all say. _Well, this might be an interesting movie…_

_Alright, halfway through this and I can be sure of about two things. One of the lead actresses is supposed to be an Ardat Yakshi. In the movie she has a condition in which sex leaves her partner noticeably more exhausted, and if done with someone already in a weakened bodily state its possible to kill them. Her current mate is a human actress who knows this and suffers from asthma, yet still convinces her to have sex more times after their first night. Also, both of them are rising stars in theatre but the film seems to focus more on their recreational and home life than their jobs._

Watching the film I actually take note of something else. _They always seem to have something flashy but fitting on. I guess that's why she said they're so glamorous._ I blink upon feeling a shift. With a slight tug my arm hanging across the back of the couch falls forward and drops around Morinth's waist. I turn to look at it, finding her leaning onto my arm with a gentle but firm pressure. A coy smile is on her face and a look of victory bounces around in her eyes before she closes them then opens them. A shock goes through my head and suddenly everything changes, the room is a little brighter, the tv is muted and the vid doesn't matter anymore. Morinth's face has gotten extremely lighter, now more like ivory with a light sky blue tinge rather than the blue skin color she had earlier. Her eyes greatly contrast this, as now they are pure black, little pinpricks of light in them as if I was staring out of two tiny windows into space.

_Fuck._

"Tell me you want me. Need me. That you'd do anything for me, even kill for me."

_I need to break out the blade now!_ I think, my hand twitching and I feel the device hum quietly against my skin as it starts to produce the field for the blade. Meanwhile my lips move on their own, and I respond like a robot. "I want you. I need you. I would kill for you."

She smiles predatorily, bringing her outer hand up and caressing my cheek before settling it on my shoulder. _Come on you damn thing, work faster!_

"Embrace Eternity." She says, almost mockingly. A light blue pulses through us both. _SHIT!_

I convulse as my whole body feels like it got tasered by the jail cell again. That was NOT a pleasurable experience to relive. Especially now that it actually feels a bit stronger. I fall back, my mind hazy and clouded and my body not responding to anything I tell it to do.

"Mmm, that was exquisite." I barely hear Morinth say. A low, choked groan comes out of my mouth. "Huh?" I can hear the surprise in her tone.

_Jesus fuck this fucking hurts… Wait. Hurts? Pain? I can still feel pain? That means I'm not dead. That means I'm not DEAD! Where is she? Where is she?_ One of my eyes snap open and I feel barely a twitch in my foot. I shove all my energy into that foot and send it forward, kicking Morinth's leg back and sending her forward onto the floor beside me. I growl, getting feeling back in my body and slowly turn over, opening both my eyes fully and glaring at Morinth who lies on her stomach beside me, gaping at me. I slowly push myself onto a knee, simultaneously summoning my right plasma dagger, which forms and stabilizes a lot faster than my body has moved at all in the past 3 minutes.

"You tried to kill me." I growl out. I raise my arm and am prepared to stab it down before something entirely unexpected happens.

She tackles me back, her arms wrapped around my neck and kind of choking me as she practically forces her lips onto mine. Though I had managed to force some action into my body, it was still recovering and this surprise attack apparently set it back a good amount. Unable to move much I basically laid there while she forcefully kissed me as long as she pleased. My muscles screamed at me in protest every time I tried to force a knee up to try and push her off or try to stab her but after 2 attempts she just pulsed some of her energy and used her biotics to bind my arms and legs down on the floor.

After securing my body Morinth immediately kissed me again and suddenly I felt a bunch of different emotions. Elation was first and foremost, relief, a nearly overpowering desire and a mix of compulsion, demand and need suddenly tied to myself. I felt kinda weird at that. Then suddenly the positive feelings all came crashing down at a sudden realization. Oh shit, she found out about my plan to lead Shepard and her mother here.

As I think that Morinth pulls away and stares at me, I still feel the same things but they're vaguer, more hazy than the clear-cut emotions that had flooded me earlier. Now I could differentiate between Morinth's mind and my own. I look up to her and am about to respond but pause with, yet again, surprise.

Her face had the look of utmost betrayal. Like I had taken a puppy, cared for it until it was at it's happiest then just chucked it into a random yard miles away from home and drove off. My heart clenched at that analogy. Morinth's eyes turn back to their usual white and greenish-blue, the edges noticeably tearing up. I watch a few drops run down her cheek and splatter onto my shirt.

"Why now… Why do I find one now…." She mutters sadly, her voice cracking on nearly every other word.

"Because our luck is utter shit…" Well damn, now I can't tell if this is just remnants of her feelings or if she's stoked my own. This could be a problem.

Morinth only looks at me, still greatly saddened but her eyes show a hint of hope. She leans down towards me again, much more slowly and hesitantly. Surprising myself and her, I feel my body relax and she quickly closes the distance. The joy, relief and desire I felt from her earlier all come rushing back as the proximity between us lessens and the kiss gets intimate very quickly. Before I even have time to start responding though, the original plan decides to plow on.

"DELTA!" Shepard yells out. I just have time to open my eyes and look towards the apartment door to see her in full battle armor with Samara glowing blue beside her. Morinth is immediately launched off me and the mind meld snaps just as violently, causing a burst of pain in the back of my head. I growl and clutch my head, curling up slightly. Shepard's by my side in a second, trying to help me up.

"Delta, you're alive! Oh thank god, I saw her on top of you and thought were too late! Morinth's an Ardat-Yakshi. We suspected it when you told me about your date but we had to do some checking up to be sure and I thought it was too late by then. If she had mind-melded with you a minute earlier we…" Shepard starts, cutting herself off once I'm mostly upright, still clutching my head. The pain slowly dissipates but leaves a lasting ache.

"I guess I wasn't supposed to survive that huh?" I ask. Shepard's eyes widen and Samara looks back surprised.

"Survive that? Did she already?" Shepard asks.

I nod. "It hurt a lot and I was paralyzed for a minute but yeah. We mind-melded." And now I have a deep connection with a 4 century-old, blue-skinned, tentacle headed, alien succubus that is on a more personal level than any relationship I have ever experienced in my 18 years of life. Oh, and she's supposed to die in the next 2 minutes or so. Fan-fucking-tastic.

"Impossible…Ardat-Yakshi overpower the very nervous system of their victims…No creature of this universe has ever been able to survive such a coupling." Samara says, surprise piercing her normally calm voice.

_Wow, guess that makes me some kinda mega-alien. Forget Extra-terrestrial, I'm Extra-Universal! E.U...phone...home._

At that point Morinth's bedroom wall suddenly explodes outward then back in, all the pieces flying towards us. Samara reroutes her power to form a biotic bubble around the three of us though I'm the only one to notice that any sizeable piece likely to cause an injury flies straight at or near Samara and Shepard. Morinth uses this distraction to run into an adjacent apartment she had just made a door to and blast open their window to jump out of. Samara gives chase as soon as the hail of stone ends, slowed down as Morinth sets a small singularity at her feet by a corner that pulls a chair into Samara's legs, forcing her to slow down and deflect it before continuing on. Shepard and I run through as well, or rather Shepard runs while I set off at a brisk limping jog. We reach the window and look out below at the walkways leading off to different areas of Omega. On an impulse I look to the left and see Morinth ducking into an alleyway, glancing up and pausing as our eyes meet. I watch her as she ducks into it, then check to see if Shepard or Samara saw her. Shepard seems to be scanning the area while Samara stares all around, frustration starting to seep into her biotics as her energy aura is gently tinted red at the edges.

"I don't see her Samara." Shepard says, a note of disappointment in her voice.

"Neither do I." I say, my voice dropping low.

"Not again." Samara says, turning around in a calm and controlled manner but obviously in a huff. I sigh and turn, leaning against the wall and looking at Shepard. I hang my head.

"I'm sorry you guys." Shepard puts a hand on my shoulder.

"It's not your fault Delta. You didn't know how dangerous she was, nor could you have been prepared to handle her. I flinch slightly at that comment, the twin plasma blade pods seeming to hang a bit heavier on my skin. "It's enough that you managed to survive her trying to mind meld with you. I might've been worried at the time but now, I'm more thankful than ever you got that surgery done, even if it was without my permission." Shepard remarks, smiling a bit.

…_Do I really fuck up so bad I have to be superhuman to endure it?_ I smile back a bit at her. We both know its forced but I guess it's enough for her that I'm still alive and well after what would be a fatal encounter for the rest of the galaxy's occupants.

"Perhaps there is a silver lining in this." Samara says, watching me limp back into Morinth's apartment, my left leg still mostly asleep. Shepard had diverted her course to speak to the owner of the apartment Morinth had just blown apart, apologizing and explaining the situation. We're probably going to get billed for this. Damn. I look at Samara with a raised brow

"And what's that?"

"Morinth knows you're able to survive her disease. That alone makes you almost invaluable in her eyes." Samara starts. "Morinth's always enjoyed darker themes but she never delved into them and delighted in them as she does now. Her choice led to a solitary lifestyle that will remain unchanged so long as she can't find a companion, and to cope she's surrounded herself in dark themes. She will crave your presence Delta. And as long as she does, she will seek you out. When she does, you must contact me if I am not already nearby." Samara turns to look at me, her face grim. "As long as you are alive, you will be her target. And in all likelihood you wont survive a second time."

I shiver at the thought. I was in no hurry to go through the process again. I might be able to survive, but that was painful as all hell. I look behind us to see Shepard finishing up with the neighboring tenant. She walks back up with a slight grimace.

"Let's get out of here. Now." Guess the guy took a bit of Shepard's patience. Following her orders, Samara and I trail behind her as she briskly walks out of the room, down the hall and into the elevator.

"…She was pretty powerful. Why couldn't we have tried to recruit her? I mean, aside from the whole, sex vampire thing, but we just keep her from being along with anyone and that's handled." I ask, looking at Samara and Shepard.

"Morinth wouldn't go along with something so easily from what Samara's told me. And Samara is honor-bound to kill or confirm her death personally." Shepard responds, looking at me.

"Wait so if she actually joined us for our suicide mission, then Samara would only have to make sure she doesn't leave, not kill her personally?" I ask.

"Wishful thinking is not wise at this moment Delta." Samara responds.

I fold my arms and raise a brow at her. "I'm just running a scenario. But let me get this straight…Morinth joins our suicide mission, then you aren't required to kill her by your code on sight unless she survives or tries to escape?"

"If such an unlikely event were to occur then yes, my code would allow it. That scenario is nearly impossible to happen however, considering Morinth's past actions and strategies."

Hm. So it would actually be possible to have them both. Too bad that option never came up in the game. Samara and Shepard don't share any looks with me, or each other. Both seem to have retreated to their own minds.

I sigh silently, my thoughts turning to other matters. For instance, the fact that Samara's loyalty hasn't been secured, so she's definitely at risk. We still need to grab Legion and secure Tali, Garrus, and finally Thane's loyalties before we can proceed. I don't care about Sidonis so I see no need to interfere with Garrus' mission. Kolyat would be interesting to meet. Hope Shepard lets me handle Thane's. After that, we deal with invading the Collector base. Wonder how well that'll go. I have my uh, special surprise nearly finished, just need some more palladium and eezo, then I can build the main gun. Shepard's likely to stop by a mineral rich planet soon enough for me to stock up. Until then, I'd better get working on that new Sentinel design and see how many resources each one takes.

I blink, looking up to notice that we're at the docking port for the Normandy and nearly everyone of the battle crew is standing there except for Jack, Grunt and Zaeed. And they're all staring at me.

"Where the hell have you been?!" They all demand at the same time.

"Wow, did you guys rehearse that or what?" I respond, a smirk coming to my face. The only response is a pistol being flung at my head, which I duck. "Whoa Tali!"

"Come closer, I have a shotgun as well!" She says, starting to walk up towards me but is deterred by Garrus' outstretched arm.

"Great to see you too. Srry for disappearing on you guys, but it wasn't exactly my choice." I say, stepping back a few paces to pick up the gun where it landed. As our tiny group meets the big one outside the docking door I hand it back to Tali.

"The Blue Suns kidnapped you correct?" Miranda asks, her brow slightly furrowed in what I suspect to be concern. "They haven't harmed you too much have they? Perhaps you should get checked up on by Chakwas." Yup, definitely concern.

"No worries Miranda. They didn't hurt me too much aside from the shocking. And I got revenge for that, hehehehe." _Sadistic bastard. I'm glad he's dead, the little shit._ Everyone gives me a once-over, Jacob and Kasumi lingering while Zaeed claps me over the back and saying I did well escaping on my own. He also mentioned I should've destroyed their base as well but I didn't feel like it. It isn't too long before we're all through decontamination and headed to our separate rooms. I check in with Joker before heading to the armory, finding Jacob has gone down below to be with Kasumi. Again. I see Silver standing by my bed though, the light on his head flickering as he stares into space.

"Delta. We are pleased to see you are healthy and functioning at full capacity." He says a few seconds after I enter the room. I smile at him.

"Good to see you too Silver. Did you make any progress on our toys?" I ask, dropping into my bed and folding my arms behind my head.

"Progress is minimal. We have found that we lack the current resources required to complete the SP project. We have however, identified that the necessary hardware to enable functionality can be salvaged from Geth bodies, though the accompanying software will have to be rewritten." He answers, turning towards me as his light dims.

"Geth? We can farm Geth to make more of these?"

"Yes. Preferably Heretics. And our best chance of acquiring necessary parts, lie in systematic shutdown of Prime and Hunter model platforms. Also, we have successfully tracked Creator Tali' Zorah's last shipment. Its final destination was the Migrant Fleet, addressed personally to her father, and contained an almost complete Geth platform."

Perfect. "Alright first, I need you to copy the code to my omni-tool. Tali's going to give her dad a little surprise. Second, we need to find a nearby geth occupied world and harvest some bodies. This project WILL be completed before the final battle, as soon as possible preferred. Silver, we have work to-!" My speech is interrupted by a shake as Joker dislodges the ship from the Omega docking platform. I look out the window to see the station slowly grow smaller and smaller as the Normandy pulls out of the asteroid field.

"Oh, we're already on our way. I bet we're going to the Citadel next, damn…" Well, Shepard did want to take care of Garrus and Thane before we went to get the IFF. Just as well I suppose. Still, that makes the final battle that much closer, so my two greatest projects don't have long to be completed. And I still need resources for the first one and Geth for the second.

"Silver. Could you finish at least one?"

"Affirmative. We could disassemble our auxiliary platforms and use those parts. We have 1 Prime platform and 2 standard troopers. We can construct a new one after finishing the prototype."

I nod. "Alright, sounds like a plan! I'll go ask Shepard if we can take a mining side-trip soon. I'll probably have to pay for the probes myself, but oh well." Silver and I nod to each other and walk out of the armory. He takes a right and goes down to the cargo hold by elevator while I continue straight on, walking up towards the cockpit where Shepard and Joker as talking.

"I dunno Commander. He does raise a point, more strength on the team would be great, but I'm against having a hot, asari sex vampire on the loose in the ship, for obvious reasons." Joker says. I raise my brow in curiosity.

"I agree. Still, Samara even said it was highly unlikely she'd appeal anyway and she's already lost her chance. Still, the way she looked around Delta…it gave me a bad feeling that's not going away." Shepard responds, arms folded across her chest.

"That's just your rape senses tingling. It's okay Shepard, it's common for it to go off randomly around Omega, or Catholic churches."

"Actually about half a year before you joined the crew Delta, the Catholic church on Earth got a new Pope. He's pretty cool from what I've seen so far." Joker remarks.

I tilt my head slightly at him, "Since when do you follow up on organized religions newest things? I thought you'd be more occupied with trying to convince EDI to hack into Fornax's databases again."

"Hey, you said you wouldn't talk about that again." Joker yells out.

Shepard shakes her head. "Did you want something Delta?"

"Yeah, came to check up on the Witty Wimp. And I wanted to ask if we could do a quick probe trip. I'm in need of some Palladium, Iridium and Eezo. Not a lot, but it'll take a few probes I imagine."

"What's it for?"

I smirk. "Whoa now Shepard, it's a surprise. Don't worry it'll be useful, and pretty damn fun to shove up the Collector's collective asses once done. Which should be painful. I assume they're bugs so would it be asses or cloacas? And their shells can't be too loose around that area can it, or else-"

"Ok, we'll do it. No more images of Collector's and their private areas, please!" Shepard says, pointing back towards the armory.

I raise my hands in surrender, noticing this is a dismissal and semi-grounding for the image. "Alright, thanks Shepard. I'll see you later." I wave and walk off, headed back towards the armory. I give a little mock salute to Kelly as I pass and she waves. Once inside I look down to see the Mass Effect core below me. Deciding to sleep I turn off the lights, drop into bed and close my eyes while relaxing. I like how much space I have on this cot. Not too huge, but large enough for me to comfortable spread out if I desired. Pretty quickly I black out.

My mind is hazy as I wake up, my body sluggish and a weird weight on my left side. I open my eye and look towards it, snapping awake and up in a second as I see what lies before me.

Morinth is lying on my bed, cuddled into my side and holding my arm against her.

Oh, and she's naked.

"THE FUCK!?"

**Me: Wooo! New chapter done!**

**Delta: Finally!**

**Me: Let's start the next one!**


	26. Change of Living

**:Knock knock**

**Delta: Whose (looks around suspiciously, seeing no one outside) …there?**

**(A thick 7-foot tall block of embellished wood slams over the entryway, whacking Delta's face and knocking him on his ass.)**

**Door: THE DOOR!**

* * *

><p>Change of Living<p>

_What the-, How did-, When did-, Gahh!_

Apparently my surprise, confusion and slight horror is clearly etched on my face because as the similarly emoted yell from earlier has awoken her she stares at me before relaxing again in understanding. Of course instead of doing something I'd deem sensible like putting on clothes and explaining, she does something much worse.

_Oh my god this is bad!_ I think slowly as my brain witnesses her. Morinth says nothing, hardly reacting to my outburst except to lay back down, close her eyes, slide a bit closer and wrap her firm, soft toned legs around my own and, oh her breath kinda tickles my neck.

…_Ok, maybe this isn't so bad…Wait, no, sex demon Delta! But she wouldn't hurt you… NO! Enemy! ENEMY! Go away remnants, you're her feelings, not mine!_

_Are we? _I feel the odd emotions say. _Wait, what? Gah!_ I pull my arm out of her grip and this obviously displeases her. She doesn't open her eyes, blindly grabbing for me. I avoid it by grabbing her wrists and pinning them to the bed.

"Let go Delta…" her reply is sleepy but its obvious she's waking up pretty quickly.

"Morinth, what are you doing in my bed?" I demand.

"Sleeping. Now let me." She responds.

I deadpan at that response. "Morinth…what are you doing here on the Normandy."

"Staying with you. Is that a better answer?" She responds, frowning at me a little. "Are you going to act like this every time I get in bed with you?"

I was caught off guard a little at her first comment. The second part just made me splutter for a few seconds. In that time she freed her arms, wrapped them around my chest and laid down while locking her legs more securely with mine. I only watched her as she did so, finishing the whole act by leaning into my side and finally closing her eyes with a soft muttering of "mine".

As I recover I growl out slightly and smack her shoulder. This wakes her up faster than before, but she's now much more irritated.

"Morinth, you do know that this is incredibly dangerous right? Soon as Samara sees you, she'll try to kill you."

"Mother wouldn't dare. She'd risk taking down herself and this whole ship if she did and she knows it."

"Wouldn't that restrict your own abilities? You can't use your biotics if that's the case. So what's to stop Shepard and a bunch of the others from throwing you out the airlock?"

"Easy, I join the crew for your suicide mission. Mother won't be able to object and judging from your discussion earlier it wouldn't interfere with her code. Plus, now I can make sure you don't die."

I raise my brow at her "How'd you find out about that? Did you mind meld with me in my sleep?!" Her answer is to merely look slightly bashful.

"…What the hell Morinth you mind-raped me!"

"It wasn't that serious! I only looked deep enough to see your conversation after you left! You were barely in any pain." She defends herself, at first it sounded angry though it took a softer more saddened undertone.

I watch her and we end up spending a few seconds just staring at each other. After the brief interlude to our argument I shake my head and sigh, pulling out of her grasp and getting out of my bed. Glancing up I note that the clock reads 2 am, so around now everyone is asleep except for the late night crew. "Jesus fuck Morinth, now is probably the worst time for Shepard to find out…" I mutter. I turn to her and point at the bed "Stay here." I turn back and quickly pull on a shirt and shorts, leave the Armory into the CIC, go up to Shepard's floor in the eleveator. At this hour, I don't even care about how fast it is, even if I did doze off for a half minute.

The elevator's stop jerks me out of my light snoozing and I blink my eyes once before stepping out and up to the door. I raise my fist to knock and let her know I'm here, but then I heard a muffled sound from the other side that sounded like talking. I press my ear against the metal and close my eyes, focusing on it and hear Shepard's voice, quite and muffled through the door.

"Why? Because I said so, that's why. Mhm sure you're in bed, and the sound of gunfire behind you is your alarm clock. Don't try and kid me Liara, I can hear the exhaustion in your voice. Get to bed already, alright? I'm about to go to sleep myself. Good. Goodnight Liara I…I'll call you again soon." I hear the beep of a disconnection and Shepard's sigh.

I knock on the door. A second later it opens and I see Shepard, small bags under her eyes.

"Shepard, I have girl problems." I immediately say.

"Good morning to you as well Delta." She immediately responds, turning around and walking in. Her arms lift in a quick stretch "Come in."

I nod and walk in, grabbing her desk chair and plopping it by her couch. She sits in the couch and I sit in the chair, its back facing her so I can lean on it while we talk. "I'm kind of surprised to see you up Shepard. I was expecting to have to wake you myself."

"I doubt you would have. I don't sleep much." She mutters. "Tonight, Feron had called me to convince Liara to get in her bed and sleep. He seems to worry about her quite a bit."

"And you don't?" I ask.

"Liara can handle herself. Still, a whole shipful of mercs finding out she's not the real Shadow Broker, or at least their Shadow broker, I fear that happening."

I nod. "So, the other nights then?"

Shepard blinks then grimaces as I say this, looking to the side "The other nights are…different. Anyway, you said you had a problem? Girl problems?"

I look at her and nod. I doubt she wants to talk to me about whatever might be troubling her. At least tonight. "Yeah…really just one problem though."

"You've fallen in love with Morinth haven't you?" She asks.

I splutter for half a second and begin to say no, but Shepard's face is already set in a smug "Knew it, don't even try" look.

_Told you… _I pause and look at Shepard. Wow. I actually do love Morinth…not deeply, but enough to really care about her. She did have the impression we were soulmates or something though, considering our situation. Not entirely sure however, she used some weird asari word for it that my translator can't pick up.

I sigh. "Yeah it…it seems like it, Shepard. But that's not the real problem. I mean, yeah, it's a problem, for many reasons, but it's not the main problem." I say, my head hanging low.

"So what is the main problem then?" Shepard asks.

Welp here we go. "Well…remember the scenario I posed to you and Samara on the way to the Normandy? It seems like we might have to implement it."

Shepard's eyes widen and her mouth gapes slightly. She stands up suddenly "Are you telling me a dangerous Asari is onboard right now!"

I stand up as well, scooting the chair to the side and raising my hands toward her, palms out "She's not really dangerous Shepard, she's just lonely! Very, very lonely, and sad and scared and is now clinging onto the one rock of actual happiness she has seen in her new life with all her strength."

"Delta, she's dangerous. I don't trust her and I have no reason to start." Shepard says, beginning to turn and go find Morinth. "I'm kicking her off this ship now!"

"Wait!" I grab her arm and pull then rush back in front of her. "Shepard, you trust me though right?! Right? Well what if I say I trust her, would that be enough for you? We've already done the mind meld, I've seen her, I can tell its genuine and she just wants to be with me. It feels really weird to say that actually. But the gist of it is-"

Shepard holds up a hand "Alright alright, stop Delta." She stares at me with a critical eye for a good minute. I watch, her shifting from foot to foot nervously. I still can hardly believe this…. A little over a day ago I was ready to have her killed and now I'm actually arguing with Shepard to keep her alive… I look back to Shepard as she sighs, rubbing her forehead "Ok…I'll trust you on this Delta. But if she causes trouble, I'm tossing her out the airlock and dumping you on the first station we come to. Understood?"

I nod and surprise Shepard with a hug. "Understood Shep. Thanks."

I can feel her smile against my shoulder as she hugs me back "Don't get too happy about it Delta. You're the one telling Samara after all. You're dating her daughter."

I frown slightly "Ahhh crap Shepard…" I sigh breaking the hug apart. "Well I'd better get some sleep then… I do not want to step on that minefield while tired."

Shepard actually has the nerve to laugh while I walk towards her door, chair in hand to place back where it was. "Good luck Delta."

"Thanks Shepard. And get some sleep yeah?" I respond.

"I'll certainly try." She says, the door closing behind me. I step into the elevator and return to the CIC deck, stepping out, walking into the armory and pausing as I see Morinth lying down where I originally was. "Already taking my stuff…" I mutter, walking over and sliding in. One of my legs brush against hers and in a flash her eyes open, her arms snap out and I'm suddenly yanked headfirst into the bed and her. I roll my eyes and get back under the covers, her body starting to wrap itself around mine again already. With a sigh I lay back, close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

* * *

><p>"This is not going to be fun at all…" I mutter with a sigh. Post-wakeup and usual morning routine, I had a little mental debate on whether I should eat first then tell Samara, or do the opposite. Almost immediately I opted to do the opposite because it was sure to suck, and I could use my breakfast and donuts as somewhat of an equalizer. And then maybe a pig will fly through the Omega 4 Relay and kill the Collectors before Shepard and the rest of us do. I shake my head and am about to open the door before I look back toward Gardner with a thought running through my head.<p>

Half a minute later the door to Samara's deck opens and I walk through, arms folded behind my back.

"Delta. It is good to see you. What brings about this visit?" Samara says as soon as the door closes behind me. I walk over and sit down on the bench to her right, looking out the window while keeping my little surprise out of sight.

"Well, I have news." I start. "Good news is, I have some chocolates for you." I say, holding up a box of assorted chocolate treats and wiggling it slightly. Samara's reaction is less assuring than I had hoped. I hold the box out to her.

"I appreciate the gift Delta, but I sense this is more of a buffer to something else." She says, taking the box and placing it in her lap.

"Geez, you sound like my mother…" I mutter with a short sigh. "Alright, well, Morinth heard our conversation apparently. She approached Shepard and I last night about joining the crew."

Samara's eyes widen as she stares at me "What?"

I nod at her. "Yeah, Morinth's on the crew."

Samara blinks once then narrows her eyes "That's impossible. I haven't known Shepard for long but she wouldn't have sacrificed you for her assistance."

"Shepard's not the one who chose to sacrifice it. It'll hurt like hell every time, but I honestly see that as the only way to help her." I say, staring out the window.

"She is beyond help Delta. She is part of a disease that has plagued Asari families for millennia! Her only help is to be released into the embrace of the Goddess."

I sigh, leaning back into the bench. "Samara, I understand your position on this…but seriously, I can't just leave it at that. Maybe yeah, with a whole race of people aiming for your head it'd be best to just be dead sooner instead of waiting for a whole thousand years to kick the bucket but she's survived this long. I think she deserves a break. Funny how she only gets it on a suicide mission, but then maybe she'll leave with a smile instead."

"…Delta. I want you to know, I have always wanted only what's best for my daughters. When Morinth denied the option of exile I, I had to be the one to kill her. I couldn't bear the thought of anyone else doing it. She could have been caught by one of the many radical zealots I've encountered in my training and tortured gruesomely for months before being released. I couldn't let that happen to her, and I had hoped to end it early before this had carried on too long. My resolve will be steady when we attack the Collectors, and though I will be tired and weakened from the ordeal I will still kill her if they haven't already." Samara says, her voice quavering slightly during the middle of her speech but then growing strong once more at the end. I shiver a little as her biotics activate, with more energy radiating than usual when she's practicing. "Now please leave me. I need to meditate."

I nod, standing up and walking out. As I pass her, I glance down and widen my eyes upon seeing the box of chocolates crushed and floating slightly off her lap. The door closes behind me and turns red, locking everyone out of the room. I sigh and walk over to Gardner for breakfast, not at all enjoying the start of today. At least Samara hasn't expressed an uncontrollable urge to kill Morinth, and probably me for helping her. Just a strong urge to do so. Sighing I stand from the table, place my plate into the collection bin and enter the elevator, pressing the button for the cargo hold. Much as I'd like to enjoy the touch of a silky smooth Asari, I still have that project to work on. And hopefully verrry soon, a bunch of new sources to use.

I step out of the elevator as I reach the Cargo hold and walk towards Silver I've only taken about 5 steps before I'm standing froze and looking around. Hearing the soft click of heels I make a guess of who did and am somewhat pleased to see my assumption correct as the person rounds about to my front.

Miranda stops in front of me, hands on her hips and leaning on one leg. My eyes can't help but give her a once over before stopping at her face. "Ah. Miranda. How are you doing?"

She gestures behind herself at my projects. "What is this Delta?

"It's my super special secret projects for the final fight against the Collectors. Once these prototypes have had their field tests I'll be spreading the design plans between every governing body in the galaxy." I respond tiredly. "Miri, can we please not do this now? I still have a lot of fine-tuning and construction, testing program writing, limitation setting ahead. That's just stuff to do, that's not even considering what I intend to completely ignore like the parameters of basic Robo-ethics, some laws of applied physics, Quantum theory, and a healthy portion of the Geneve Convention."

She rolls her eyes, lifting me up slightly then dropping me out of the stasis field. I don't flop on my face but I do stumble a little as she steps to the side. "Delta, you said if you had anything useful you'd share."

"Yeah. I lied. In case you haven't noticed Miri, I don't trust Tim. Like, at all. Did you know he had videos of you showering? Well, he has videos of everyone showering actually. Lot more angles available in the women's restroom though." I say, speaking as I walk towards Silver and our work. Really, I need these things operational ASAP, and I don't have much time to make, test, fine-tune, test again and clear for use. It would just suck, massive, MASSIVE Donkey balls to send them out to guard the Normandy only to watch em shoot and crash into it in the middle of a suicide mission. That'd be the WORST fuckup, I'd ever see myself do. I'd never live it down I bet.

Miranda looked irritated at me for saying I lied and don't trust Tim but now she looks kind of surprised. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Yeah, loads of videos. Of you and pretty much every other female on the ship who uses the restroom. I mean some are obviously surveillance, some are sketchy surveillance and some are downright pornographic. And I don't mean cute lips, smooth shoulders, soft back, "softcore" pornographic; I mean thick ass, stiff nippled, we're talkin TSA Hands-on Full Cavity search images here." I sit down and almost break out laughing at the face Miranda makes, a wonderful mix of horror, betrayal and disgust.

"How do you know this?!" Miranda practically screeches, whirling on me. Oh crap…

"I hacked his cameras around the ship. Didn't get the shower one until recently." I'm in another stasis field suddenly.

"You're lying. When did you find out?" she demands, pointing an accusing finger at me. The field around my head dissipates enough for me to breathe and speak.

"A month ago!" I say. She raises a brow at me.

"4 months ago, during the Tuchanka missions!" I say, the field constricts tighter around me.

"What?! Delta and you left it?!"

"I only saw one video and got several concussions during that mission, I totally forgot about it for most of that time!" I defend myself. It's pathetic, and I'm screwed anyway but fuck it. Seriously and I only saw midshipman Joan too, she wasn't even that hot compared to Miranda. Mmmm, that bubble butt. Jacob had a good thing goin I bet.

"OW!" I try to raise my hand to rub my cheek but I'm still bound. Miranda folds her arms while glaring at me. "What was that for?"

"For being perverted, what else!" She snaps. "I want the locations of each camera in the restroom, now!" She storms away, practically punching the elevator button and looks inside briefly as she steps in. The field drops, and I do along with it, falling to the floor this time.

"Ouch...That went well." I mutter. I feel someone grab my shoulder and arm, tugging slightly. I look up as I pull my feet beneath me and stand while being pulled, popping back up to full height and seeing the sleek black of a near-skintight padded Asari Commando suit. And of course in that suit, is none other than Morinth.

_My girlfriend_. I shiver slightly as that thought runs through me. Man, this is nice but it's still kind of weird. The shiver returns with a vengeance though when I feel her lace her fingers through mine.

"So, who is she and what made her so mad at you?" Morinth asks. I walk and pull her over toward Silver who I get the impression has been observing everything in silence and will continue to do so until called upon.

"That was Miranda, Cerberus' strongest influence on this ship, Executive officer, and likely the sanest person on the ship. Aside from Tali I believe."

Morinth raises a brow.

"No, we're insane too." I say to her.

"Correct. For I have also equipped the Sentinel prototypes with the capabilities of serving as fully functional sub-orbital drop pods. After reviewing the schematics, we have concluded that with some rearrangement and new power routes, the Sentinels have enough space in their main bodies to hold a curled up human." Silver says, turning around to look at the two of us while patting the body of our Sentinel prototype. I walk around to inspect it, my hand coming loose from Morinth's as I crouch and touch, open panels, inspect wiring.

It's not compact, by far. It's central body is about the size of the Cyclops laser orbs that attack the Normandy past the Omega-4 Relay. Instead of a true sphere though its circular body is more like 3 different sized, foot thick-discs. Across the front is a silver 'X' with 4 red optics surrounding the center meeting point. The X's lines stretch over the top and bottom to the back, making the same symbol without the optics. At its side, are 4 pillar-like arms with 3 metal triangles at the tips closed like a prism, the front 2 generating a reddish yellow light while the back two shine a bright blue similar to the exhaust from the Kodiak's engines.

"Well done Silver! Wow! And it's a drop pod too?" I ask, turning to him briefly while inspecting it.

He nods. "Yes. We had surmised that it would be useful in case we were to accomplish any special quick infiltration missions."

"Dude, you made it because it'd be fun as hell."

He pauses for a second "Yes."

I chuckle "I swear, you're going to return and everyone will be wondering just what the fuck happened to you…"

"We eagerly await the exchange of data." Silver responds, making me laugh. Morinth sits on nearby box as I step away from our prototype and pull up a few Geth scouters and 2 rocket drones taken from the wreckage of our battle with Vasir. I immediately set them on top of a long box and pull out my tools from our shared storage, dissecting the hardware.

I hear a ping and check my Omni-tool.

'Delta.

We've received a message from a nearby Alliance ship. An enclave of Geth was engaged recently and both sides have retreated. The Geth forces are holed up on a nearby planet and they're requesting reinforcements to help deal with them. We're answering the call.

-Shepard'

I smirk and turn back to my work when I'm finished reading. "Well well well, seems we get some excitement. And lucky for us, we get some Geth bodies to salvage too."

Silver looks at me briefly "Through salvage, we are able to construct 1 new Sentinel platform for every 2 Geth Prime platforms captured."

"Alright. Well, let's hope they have at least a few Primes still active then, and see if the Alliance boys saved any of the bodies from their original skirmish." I say, rubbing my hands together briefly before fashioning the drones and scouters together.

Opting for a simple design I decide to use the rocket drones for the main chassis of the sentinel guards I plan to make, and dissect the Geth scouters to get their plasma guns for transplant. Starting with the first rocket drone I take off its tripod legs and check the main body, adding the scouters to it and significantly increasing the size. Now it looks like a flying football with a micro-flashlight face. Hah, so funny. After some configuration with the legs I managed to fashion them into jointed legs that fold back over the body.

30 minutes of fine-tuning and programming later, obviously with Silver's assistance because I can't write code as fast as he can, I mean damn that dude makes code faster than a hamster shits. The final product is rough, slightly bulky but functional and looks like a football with an upside down T across its nose and extending down its body. Not bad I think. With a triumphant smile I pull up a nearby empty crate and pack the machine inside, spending a second to name it the Sentry Orbitar. Ooh, I like that name. Before I can even start building my new Orbitars twin, EDI's voice comes over the loudspeaker.

"Delta, Morinth, Shepard wishes you both to assist her on this mission." She says, cutting off before waiting for our reactions. I sigh and stand, Silver taking my place to finish the project while we go to hopefully get materials for our next one. Morinth walks beside me and our shoulders brush occasionally as we walk and stand in the elevator.

"...I think this elevator is designed to always take 5 minutes each trip…its like no matter where you ride to it takes the same amount of time." I mutter, folding my arms and looking at the ceiling. "I should get Silver to check that out actually."

Morinth looks at me sideways "I assume you'll be able to provide me with better equipment? I only have a shuriken pistol."

"Hm?" I look at her briefly before nodding "Ah, right, you would be packing light."

She nods and the elevator doors open onto the CIC. I step out, avoid Kelly who seems kind of jumpy, and walk into the Armory with Morinth nearby. I step by the Weapons locker and key up a new loadout screen. I start her off with a Locus SMG and then open a wheel of Assault rifles.

"So, which one would you like?" I ask her, stepping to the side slightly as she comes closer. Morinth stands still for a second, tapping her chin softly before scrolling down. "Wow you guys have a Revenant too hm?"

I blink and look at the holographic wheel "Oh…Oh yeah. And the katana too."

She looks at me "You looted my room?"

I raise my hands in defense "Hey, it's a suicide mission, we didn't have a Revenant and it's a good gun. The katana was really cool though."

"Did you at least take my crystal chess set?" She says, turning to me with arms folded.

"You have a crystal chess set?" Man, I totally would've taken that too. That would have been so cool to have, even if I'm crap at Chess. Still, would've been nice to have something nice to play it with at least. Maybe Shepard sucks too. Or I could convince Garrus to play it.

Morinth's fingers snap in front of my face and I look at her. "Right, weapons. Anyway, So Locust and Revenant?"

"Yes. Where's my katana" She asks. I stare at her for a few seconds before turning and walking away, quickly leaving the Armory. "Delta!"

"Nope! It's mine now! Entirely mine, you no can have!" I hurry down to the Cargo Hold through the vents, losing her at the entrance to one. I see a frown on her face as I disappear and pop out behind the Kodiak. I drop to the ground and roll, walking over to the side where armors are usually stored and take mine out to equip.

Hehe, this is going to be a fun mission.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: You okay? What happened to you? (he crouches by Delta who is nursing a broken nose)<strong>

**Delta: The doh hib be** **om mah bose! (He says, words distorted by the broken nasal cavity)**

**Me: It did what? That's imposs-(Gets whacked by the door, falling back as well)**

**Door: (Stands out of its frame, blood spatter across two points of its body) Knock knock Motherfuckers!**


End file.
